Recipe Review: Live Eat Learn How to Make Greek Yogurt

I've always wanted to make yogurt, but many of the recipes seemed so daunting and overly involved.  Then a few weeks ago my foodie friend in Texas sent me a yogurt recipe and kept encouraging me to try it.  She'd made it and it was amazing and tasted so good.  I printed the recipe and then it laid on the kitchen table until a week ago.  I finally got off my lazy excuses and made it.

Recipe:  How to Make Greek Yogurt
Source:  Live Eat Learn
Level of Difficulty:  Easy
Ingredients:  Fridge Staples
Rating:  ★★★★★

It took me about 45 minutes to put the initial part of the yogurt together.  Then it was all about the waiting.  I opted to use our Excalibur Dehydrator on the 115° setting, per the instructions in my manual, instead of using the oven to keep it warm while it "incubated" and became yogurt.

I chose to use my large glass bowl because it has a lid, and I knew I'd be straining it.  It took about 8 hours in the dehydrator.  I think using the towel in the dehydrator slowed the process some and just dried the towel out.  The next make I will opt to leave the towel out of the equation.  I'll be making this again, for sure.

I used Dairygold Whole Milk which has 3.25% milk fat and Fage (pronounced fa-yeh) Total Plain 5% which is Whole milk Greek yogurt.  Fage is my all-time favorite Greek yogurt because it's full fat, thick, and so creamy.

I was thrilled to have similar results with my first homemade yogurt.  Especially since I can't buy Fage in our small town, it's always a special item I grab when we go to "town" for things.  I did stain this mixture for about 14 hours to get the super thick creamy results I got.  I simply put it in the strainer and plopped it in the fridge until the next morning.

I haven't done a serious cost breakdown, but I'm fairly certain that my homemade yogurt cost me much less than the $5 I usually pay for the Fage.  If you're looking to try making yogurt, but have always been intimidated by the recipes you've read I highly suggest you try this one from Live Eat Learn.  Easy, clear directions.