Greek (fat free) Yogurt in crock pot

Ingredients:

  • 2 quarts nonfat milk
  • ½ cup of natural, live culture, no pectin added, “plain” yogurt

Directions:

  1. Pour 2 quarts of milk carefully into your crock pot bowl.
  2. Turn heat to low. Put lid on and heat milk for 2 hrs and 45 minutes. Be sure and use a timer!
  3. When timer goes off, turn off crock pot, keep lid on, and set timer for an additional 3 hour “cool down” time.
  4. After 3 hours, ladle 1 cup of the very warm, crock pot milk into a small bowl.
  5. To the very warm milk whisk in ½ cup of natural, live culture, no pectin added, “plain” yogurt, like Chobani Greek Yogurt, mix well. That’s your starter to produce a batch of new, live culture, yogurt. Pour milk mixed with yogurt back into crock pot bowl and whisk gently to incorporate. Place lid back on.
  6. Unplug crock pot. Cover with two bath towels and leave it to “culture” overnight for at least 8-12 hrs.
  7. In the morning, place tea towel in colander and pour yogurt into towel-lined colander placed over a large bowl (an 8-cup measuring bowl works great).
  8. Place in refrigerator for 6-8 hours to drain off 1 to 2 cups of whey. (Whey is very healthy and can be used in place of your liquids to make homemade breads.) The more whey you drain, the thicker the yogurt will be.
  9. Remove from the refrigerator.
  10. Pour yogurt into bowl.
  11. Whisk yogurt until smooth. If it is too thick, add some whey.
  12. Save 1/2 cup of yogurt to use as starter for your next batch of Easy Crock Pot Yogurt. Starter should be used within a week. You may use homemade yogurt as starter 3 times before buying more natural, no pectin added, plain yogurt, like Chobani as your starter.
  13. Yogurt may be stored in a large jar and dished out for individual use. If using small, covered, individual containers: place chopped fruit in the bottom of each container, sweetened with 1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey; add yogurt and finish off with a little drizzle of syrup or honey and snap on cover.
  14. Store in the refrigerator for a week. Yogurt will thicken as it cools, but you must try it before you cool it because the yogurt has such a delicate texture before it is cooled.
  15. Whey will last 6 months in the refrigerator.

Serving Suggestion: