It may be moot point that you should make make your own yogurt.
If you are a yogurt consumer big time, you''ll know that yogurt can cut a big hole in your shopping budget . Unless, of course, you buy the big 2 kg tubs of Greek yogurt that you can get in supermarkets for around $10.
One of the fruits of being Australian is that with a large Greek community in Melbourne ( 2nd largest Greek town on earth) yogurt is not only seen as a medium for flavourings and fruits with a hefty 'value added' price tag, but as a cultural artifact as well.
But if you want to make your own, it's easy -- much easier than all the expensive yogurt kits suggest.There's no need to buy special starters or containers either.
The video below tells you how in easy-to-follow steps but I'll summarize the DIY for you.
- Heat a quantity of full cream milk in a saucepan on a stove top. If you want Greek style yogurt, add (more or less, as you prefer) cream to the milk.
- Bring the milk temperature (and yes you'll need a thermometer. Cost: approx $12) up to no more than 80c -- stirring as you go.
- Turn off the heat and let the milk cool down to 40c
- When the milk is cooled to 40c, mix a cup or so of the milk with the same quantity of some commercial plain yogurt or with the remainder of a previous batch. Whisk this blend back into the milk.
- Here's the tricky part: keep the milk at 40c for at least 4 hours. I find that the "Defrost" setting on my electric oven does that.So, for the sake of convenience, I place the yogurt in the oven overnight.
- Like the good prof in the video says, I use a clean t-shirt to strain the yogurt -- separating the curds from the whey. I use a large cooking pot with a steamer compartment and stretch the t-shirt across the lip -- but a colander with the t-shirt will do. I do my straining by relying a on gravity and place the setup in in the refrigerator to drip undisturbed.
- Once strained, I 'decant' the yogurt, and store the whey.