Greek yogurt that you can cook with it. How much does real Greek yogurt cost? How to make Greek yogurt at home

Greek yogurt is a healthy and versatile dairy product with centuries of history. In combination with honey and fruits, it is the most delicate delicacy, and if you add a little herbs, spices and salt, it instantly turns into an appetizing spicy sauce.

Not many people know, but "Greek yogurt" is yogurt that has been filtered to remove some of the whey. As a result of such a simple procedure, yogurt not only becomes thicker, but also loses some of the sugar, lactose and carbohydrates. The finished product is less high-calorie, but contains a large amount of calcium and protein. This feature has provided Greek yogurt with the well-deserved title of the most valuable dietary product and the love of healthy lifestyle fans around the world.

Today I propose to learn how to cook Greek yogurt at home. Shall we start?

To make Greek yogurt at home, you only need two ingredients: milk and sourdough.

Milk: cow, goat or sheep. Fresh, pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized - at your discretion, of course, the first two options are preferable.

Leaven: a special yogurt starter, plain drinking yogurt, or a small batch of homemade yogurt. I add 120-130 ml of drinking or homemade yogurt to 1 liter of milk. To prepare dry sourdough yogurt, follow the manufacturer's instructions.

To get "Greek yogurt", you must first prepare regular yogurt. Boil fresh milk and then cool to a temperature of about 38 degrees. Pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized milk, on the contrary, heat up to the indicated temperature. If desired, this milk can also be boiled. I don't do it - I don't see the point.

Pour boiling water over a container for making yogurt and a spoon for mixing it. Combine warm milk and sourdough and stir.

Cover the yogurt container with a lid and wrap very warmly or place the mixture in a thermos/yogurt maker. Leave the mixture warm and at rest for 6-8 hours until it thickens.

I cook yogurt in a slow cooker in the “yogurt maker” mode until the end of the program.

Throw the finished yogurt on a sieve lined with gauze in several layers. Place the structure in the refrigerator for several hours and let the whey drain.

Depending on what consistency of yogurt you want to get, you can weigh yogurt from 1-2 to 6-8 hours. Periodically check the condition of the yogurt, and as soon as it reaches the desired consistency, move it to a storage container.

I leave the yogurt overnight and end up with about 500-600 grams of very thick yogurt and 300-400 ml of whey. Such a thick yogurt looks like cottage cheese or cream cheese, but has a characteristic “yogurt” taste and a delicate, creamy texture.

Greek yogurt is ready! You can use homemade Greek yogurt in the same way as regular store-bought yogurt - prepare sauces, desserts and pastries based on it, add it to salads or use it as one of the components of sandwiches.

My favorite option is a simple mixture of yogurt, fresh fruit, honey. You can also add granola. It turns out a healthy, dietary and very tasty dessert or breakfast. Try it!

Everyone who has been to Greece or Cyprus has probably tried Greek yogurt for weight loss. Outwardly, it resembles sour cream, but at the same time it is more useful and light. As a rule, this natural product is offered in hotels for breakfast. It can be eaten neat or sprinkled with jam, syrup or honey. It also goes well with chocolate and other sweet cereals. And you can add sliced ​​\u200b\u200bfruits (for example, an orange or a fragrant peach) to Greek yogurt for weight loss or pour berries. Agree, this dish is a very tasty and healthy breakfast.

Healthy and tasty Greek yogurt

Thick yogurt can be used as a dressing for salads or as a sauce for poultry, meat, fish, and so on. More and more girls who are watching their figure are interested in such a product as Greek yogurt. Where can I buy the mentioned product? Yes, in the same place as regular dairy products. While in the supermarket, pay attention to the shelf with yogurts. But you can cook it yourself at home.

Cook at home

Traditional Greek yogurt for weight loss is made from sheep's milk, to which yogurt culture is added. The yogurt is fermented and then the excess whey is removed. But since we are unlikely to be able to find it, we will use ordinary milk - cow's, preferably homemade.

So, how to cook Greek it is quite simple. You will need milk and yoghurt starter. As a starter, you can use any with a short shelf life - Bulgarian yogurt, acidified sour cream or products called "Activia" without additives.

Now an important nuance: it is not contained in sour cream, therefore it ferments milk worse. Further, the sourdough for cooking - it doesn't matter if you use yogurt or sour cream - should not contain starch, thickeners and other additives. Also note that yogurt should not be shaken, as this makes it more liquid.

How to cook Greek yogurt

Greek yogurt for weight loss is prepared in the same way as regular yogurt. Only one step is added - decanting the serum.

1. Initially, you need to boil the milk and wait until it cools to room temperature. Then the milk must be filtered to remove the foam.

2. When the milk has cooled down to a temperature of 35-40 degrees, sourdough or ready-made yogurt is added to it.

3. Milk with sourdough is placed in a yogurt maker for 9 hours.

4. Ready yogurt cannot be stirred, it must be carefully poured into a sieve, after covering the latter with clean gauze. Then the yogurt is covered with a film or a lid and left in the refrigerator until the whey drains.

5. After 6-10 hours, Greek yogurt for weight loss is ready to eat. By density, the product resembles Adyghe cheese.

Yogurt whey can be used for baking, such as making fluffy filled tortillas. By the way, it is undesirable to store Greek yogurt for a long time, since this product is completely natural, does not contain preservatives and stabilizers, and therefore quickly deteriorates.

According to the traditions of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, "greek yogurt" (also called dahi, labana, labraneh) is made from sheep's or goat's milk. Nowadays, in mass production, cow's milk is used as the basis. The popularity of the drink is due to its low calorie content, a huge number of useful properties, and a high protein content.

What is Greek yogurt

If you have ever tried to make your own cheese or cottage cheese, then Greek yogurt at home will be easy. The process is similar: the milk is heated, but not boiled, to preserve useful trace elements. After adding the starter, the whey is decanted. The filtered yogurt or yogurt cheese is cooled slightly. This product has a dense texture, it looks like matsoni or curdled milk. After fermentation, no sugar, no lactose, no whey remains in it.

Compound

To the above features of the fermented milk product, one should add the presence of live bacteria, an increased content of calcium, magnesium. The composition of Greek yogurt has a number of advantages that have a beneficial effect on the entire body: it helps to normalize digestion, improves kidney and heart function, strengthens joints, helps prevent infections, improves immunity, speeds up metabolism. Even the serum that has exfoliated after decanting will be very useful and can be reused for baking, making a face mask.

How is it different from the usual

The main difference between greek yogurt and traditional yogurt is half the amount of milk, and consequently, a reduction in protein levels. If you strain it, it will become thicker. It is noteworthy that natural fermented yogurt is also suitable as a starter for Greek yogurt. You can buy various dry thickeners in the store, but we recommend paying attention to live starter cultures. For these purposes, kefir, slightly sour sour cream, is perfect.

How to make Greek yogurt at home

Making Greek yogurt can be somewhat tricky. For example, boiled and pasteurized milk is not suitable for making yogurt, it is better to use a traditional product. Before cooking, be sure to check the expiration date - stale milk may curdle. Heat it in a saucepan to 45 degrees, and use natural yogurt (unsweetened) without additives as a starter.

Pour the mixture into a thermos (to maintain a constant optimum temperature) - do not shake, do not shake the container. Keep the starter in a warm place, after 8 hours the yogurt is ready. If it comes out liquid, the serum will then have to be drained through gauze or a paper filter. Strained yogurt will thicken if chilled in the refrigerator before drinking.

In a slow cooker

• Cooking time: 8 hours.
• Servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 59 kcal.
• Purpose: for breakfast.
• Kitchen: home.

Greek yogurt at home in a slow cooker is prepared easily and simply. The advantage of the multicooker is that it allows you to maintain the temperature regime. Before pouring the fermentation product into the bowl, rinse it with boiling water. It is worth processing the rest of the appliances and utensils that will come into contact with the mixture. Do not open the lid while the machine is running, so as not to create a temperature difference. Do not use all the yogurt at once - its leftovers may be useful for preparing a new portion of the product.

Ingredients:

• milk - 1 l;
• starter culture for sourdough - 1 pack.

Cooking method:

1. Boil the milk, then cool it to 40 degrees. Add starter.
2. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Set the "Heating" mode to a temperature of 40C, and after 6 hours the fermented milk product is ready. If your multicooker does not have a temperature mode of "40 degrees", you will have to experiment with other modes.
3. Send the filtered yogurt to the refrigerator for 2 hours - the drink will become thicker.

In a yogurt maker

• Cooking time: 8 hours.
• Servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 52 kcal.
• Purpose: for breakfast.
• Kitchen: home.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Another live fermented milk product is suitable as a starter, the main thing is that it should be without dyes and preservatives. The preparation of the necessary ingredients will take no more than 10 minutes. If serum stands out, filter it through a cloth. This product can be used to make sweet dough. We advise you to add fillers, sweeteners to ready-made yogurt. Do not store it for more than 5 days in the refrigerator. How to make Greek yogurt in a yogurt maker is described below.

Ingredients:

• milk - 1 l;
• yogurt, natural without additives - 150 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Make sure all utensils are clean. Warm milk to room temperature.
2. Add yeast, stir until smooth. Pour into glasses of yogurt maker. Set the appropriate program or time.
3. After 6 hours, the dish will be ready. If the yogurt has not thickened, leave it for another two hours.
4. Then send to the refrigerator to thicken for another couple of hours.

Greek Yogurt Recipes

Dishes with Greek yogurt are perfectly absorbed by the body and help to quickly satisfy hunger. Whether it's a gravy for meat dishes, a spread on bread or a salad dressing, greek yogurt will turn it into a very healthy, nutritious food. The most common recipes with yogurt are tzatziki sauce, cake mousses, sweet dressings for fruit salads. The characteristic light, sour taste of yogurt will successfully emphasize both fruit salads and meat and fish dishes.

It is especially good to use a fermented milk product as a marinade for meat. For example, chicken soaked in a mixture of sourdough and spices is very tasty. Italian herbs or other spices, salt, pepper to taste are added to yogurt. Chicken in yogurt sauce is baked in the oven, and the result is incredibly tender meat, golden crust and delicious aroma.

Another, no less important option for using yogurt is to use it in baking dough. It can be added as an additional ingredient when kneading dough, used to lubricate finished cakes, as well as to decorate the cake. Thick cream or mousse can be used to create delicious, healthy fruit desserts.

Salad

• Cooking time: 20 minutes.
• Servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 52 kcal.
• Destination: for lunch.
• Cuisine: European.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Salad with Greek yogurt and chicken is a hearty dish that is well suited as a dish for a daily diet. You can diversify it with crackers, apple, green peas, cherry tomato. Meat can be made less caloric by boiling it instead of frying or by sending it to the oven to brown. Cooks advise you to marinate the chicken in yogurt with onions - the fillet will become softer.

Ingredients:

• chicken fillet - 400 g;
• greek yogurt - 200 ml;
• seedless grapes - 100 g;
• pear - 1 pc.;
• Dor Blue cheese - 50 g;
• walnuts - 50 g;
• garlic - 1 clove;
• shallots - 1 pc.;
• parsley - 1 bunch;
• oil, vegetable for frying - 4 tbsp. l.;
• salt, pepper - 5 g.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the chicken fillet, dip it with a paper towel.
2. Wash parsley, grapes, pear.
3. Peel onion, garlic.
4. Grease the meat with spices, fry until cooked in a pan (it is necessary to maintain a temperature of 80-90 degrees). Let cool.
5. If the grapes are large, cut in half. Pear, cheese cut into large cubes.
6. Finely chop the onion and nuts.
7. Grind parsley with garlic and yogurt with a blender.
8. Cut the fillet into cubes, mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
9. We form a dish and serve it on the table. You can pre-cool it in the refrigerator.

Sauce

• Cooking time: 40 minutes.
• Servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 53 kcal.
• Purpose: refueling.
• Cuisine: Greek.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Tzatziki is a Greek yogurt salad dressing and a great addition to meat, fish and vegetable dishes. It perfectly complements their taste, you can dip vegetables and chips with crackers into it. If fresh vegetables are not currently in season, replace them with canned ones. If you prefer a delicate sauce to a savory one, put less garlic, and vice versa. Replace dill with parsley, cilantro, onion, add mint for freshness. How to cook the dish, read below.

Ingredients:

• greek yogurt - 400 ml;
• cucumber - 2 pcs.;
• garlic - 4 cloves;
• olive oil - 2 tbsp. l.;
• lemon juice - 15 ml;
• dill - 1 bunch;
• salt - 10 g.

Cooking method:

1. Prepare the garlic. The cucumber can be peeled, but it is not necessary.
2. We rub the cucumber on a grater with large cells, sprinkle with salt to let the juice go. Let's leave it for a couple of minutes. Squeeze out excess moisture.
3. We pass the garlic through the garlic, finely chop the dill.
4. Mix all other ingredients with medium consistency yogurt, leave in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

Mousse

• Cooking time: 90 minutes.
• Servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 59 kcal.
• Purpose: dessert.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Greek yogurt mousse is a low-calorie, delicate delicacy. Instead of raspberries, you can add cherries, currants, strawberries. If you prefer a porous dessert structure, use gelatin. You can pour a little rum or cognac into the treat, or use alcohol as a fruit marinade if you had an adult party planned.

Ingredients:

• greek yogurt - 150 ml;
• dark chocolate - 150 g;
• sugar - 1 tbsp. l.;
• chicken egg - 2 pcs.;
• vanillin - 2 g;
• raspberries - 50 g;
• salt - 5 g.

Cooking method:

1. Grate some chocolate on a fine grater. Melt the rest in a water bath.
2. Divide the eggs into yolks and whites. Grind the yolks with sugar and yogurt, add vanilla.
3. Beat egg whites with salt, carefully, with a wooden spatula, mix with the rest of the mixture until smooth.
4. Pour into bowls, sprinkle with grated chocolate and berries, refrigerate for an hour.
5. An hour later, the dessert is ready to eat.

With strawberry

• Servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 63 kcal.
• Purpose: dessert.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

A light summer dessert is Greek yogurt with strawberries. Berries for piquancy can be pre-marinated in a small amount of balsamic vinegar, liquor, and for a refreshing effect, you can prepare a mint sauce. Just pour it with lemon juice and water, boil and grind with a blender. The use of honey is at the discretion, it can be replaced with syrup: chocolate, caramel, vanilla. Decorate the dessert with chocolate chips, whipped cream, multi-colored powder. Serve immediately so that the strawberries do not have time to release the juice.

Ingredients:

• greek yogurt - 1 jar;
• strawberries - 350 g;
• linden honey - 60 g;
• lemon mint - 30 g.

Cooking method:

1. Pour the yogurt into the bowls.
2. Chop the washed strawberries and mint.
3. Arrange strawberries on top of yogurt and drizzle with honey.

Cream

• Cooking time: 10 minutes.
• Servings: 3 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 150 kcal.
• Purpose: dessert.
• Cuisine: European.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Sponge cake with Greek yogurt is a wonderful alternative to high-calorie butter and custards, shortbread and puff pastry products. The airy taste of the cream will emphasize the juiciness of a biscuit soaked in your favorite coffee, nut or apricot liqueur. Sprinkle the cake with toasted finely chopped nuts, chocolate chips and decorate with your favorite fruits or make a layer of jam, jam. How to prepare a treat? Find out in the following recipe.

Ingredients:

• cottage cheese - 500 g;
• greek yogurt - 100 ml;
• sugar - 150 g.

Cooking method:

1. Grind the cottage cheese through a fine sieve.
2. Beat the yogurt with a mixer with the addition of sugar, which will help neutralize the sour taste of the product.
3. Add cottage cheese to the mass - gradually, in small portions.
4. The resulting delicious yoghurt cream cheese is ready to eat. It can be used as a cream - to grease the cakes, and then decorate the top of the cake or serve as a dish on its own in combination with chopped berries and fruits.

Video

Are you tired of looking in supermarkets and grocery stores for tasty and healthy yogurt without any additives?! Yes, in our time, even despite the gastronomic diversity, it is quite difficult to find truly natural, fermented milk products. But there is a way out of such a “difficult” situation - it is to cook this diet yummy on your own at home! Today we just want to tell you how to make Greek yogurt.

Learn how to make Greek yogurt at home!

Not many, probably. ate Greek yogurt. Yes, this type of fermented milk product is not found in all stores, but if anyone has tried it, they know how tasty and healthy it is. Reminds me of this product, the most ordinary one, but this fermented milk dietary product has its own raisins that make it special. The peculiarities of this sour milk are that it takes much more milk to cook than in yogurt and other yoghurts and the presence of whey is almost negligible.

Due to these two features, the consistency of the product becomes dense, as if it is slightly softened with a pleasant, pronounced sourness. He also has a nice plus - this is a lower carbohydrate content than other sour-milk counterparts, which means that people who are very afraid to eat extra pounds can safely feast on them without fear for their figure. We talked about the features and advantages of this product, now you can “go” to how Greek yogurt is prepared at home. We must say right away that the cooking process is not complicated and you will master this recipe without any problems. Making Greek yogurt won't start without 2 simple ingredients.

The necessary products can be bought at the nearest grocery store:

• One liter of milk, not too fatty;
• 150 ml. milk sourdough or "Activia", "Biobalance".

Now we will analyze the recipe for Greek yogurt step by step, the instructions for culinary actions are as follows:

1. Pour the milk into a ladle and put it on the fire to heat up, you need to heat the liquid to a maximum of 45 degrees, use a kitchen thermometer to control the heating.
2. We take a large spoon and with the help of it we begin to shift the sourdough into the milk. Be sure to put the starter in portions, if everything is poured into milk at once, then your homemade Greek yogurt will take on the wrong consistency.
3. Pour the resulting mixture into a large container, then wrap it well with a large towel and leave it in a warm place for 8 hours.
4. It's been 8 hours, we unwrap our container and now send it to cool in the refrigerator. In no case should you stir and splash the mixture, otherwise our cooking will go down the drain.
5. On a wide colander or kitchen sieve, place a thick cloth or waffle towel. Slowly, we begin to pour out our cooled sour-milk slurry. Drained and left everything alone, the state of “rest” should last until the serum is completely out of our “mixture”.
6. Whey removed, that's it, homemade Greek yogurt is ready for you!

As you yourself saw, making Greek yogurt is just a trifle that any culinary specialist can handle without exception. A little patience and skill, and now on your table is a delicious sour-milk mixture that can be eaten with fresh berries, fruits, or seasoned with jams and honey.

Initially, Greek yogurt was made exclusively from sheep's milk, but with the development of industrial production, cow's milk began to be widely used for its manufacture. The fact is that the concept of "Greek" is associated not so much with the type of milk used, but with a special technology for its production.

How is Greek yogurt different from regular yogurt?

A feature of Greek yogurt is a thicker consistency due to the increased protein content (10% or more) in the product. This is achieved by the fact that ready-made ordinary yogurt is additionally dehydrated, throwing the clot on a dense cloth to drain the whey. The result is a thick creamy product that resembles fat sour cream or curd cream in consistency. By the way, many peoples of Russia also had a similar recipe for obtaining a thick fermented milk product, which was called "suzma".

How much does real Greek yogurt cost?

If the word "real" is understood not as the country of origin, but as the correct production technology (without the use of stabilizers that mimic the density and other additives), then such yogurt simply has to cost at least two to three times more than ordinary natural yogurt. If you are aiming to buy "native" Greek yogurt, and again real, not imitation, then get ready to pay 5 times more for it than for regular classic yogurt.

Just 500 grams of Greek yogurt per day and you will lose 22% of your own weight in 5 months.

How to make Greek yogurt at home

To make Greek yogurt at home, you will need milk (it is better to take ultra-pasteurized) and special dry milk. Since the yield of ready-made Greek yogurt is much less than that of ordinary (from 1 liter of milk - (350 - 400) g of yogurt), it makes sense to use for its preparation, which can ferment 3 liters of milk at a time.

Milk must be heated to a temperature of (38 - 40) ºС, thoroughly mixed with the starter and left alone for fermentation at the same temperature for 8-10 hours. To maintain the desired fermentation temperature, you can use a yogurt maker, a modern electric oven, a slow cooker with the "yogurt" function, or an ordinary good wide-mouth thermos. If you don’t have a suitable device at home, then an ordinary pan will also do, which, in order to keep warm, will need to be well wrapped with crumpled newspapers, foil and a warm blanket.

After fermentation is completed, the resulting clot must be transferred to a colander lined with several layers of gauze, or a fine sieve and left to drain the whey. You can also do this later by chilling the resulting yogurt in the refrigerator. The time for whey to drain will greatly depend on the nature and structure of the initial clot (the more viscous, stringy the clot, the longer the whey will drain) and can take up to 9-12 hours. Therefore, try to organize this process in a cool place to slow down the vital activity of bacteria and prevent the formation of excessive acidity.

If you want the whey to drain in just a couple of hours, then we recommend using starters for fermentation that do not contain thermophilic streptococcus. Of course, in terms of bacterial composition, it will no longer be yogurt, but such a product will be much more useful, since the composition of these starters is 100% represented by special probiotic cultures.

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