How to make thick, Turkish-style Yogurt

Thick, creamy, Turkish-style yogurt

Carla wrote to me asking how to make thick Turkish-style yogurt.  There are a couple of ways:

The easy way:

1.  Buy high quality plain yogurt and strain it in the fridge until there is no more liquid draining into the bowl.  I use a thin cotton “sock” and sit it atop a strainer over a bowl in the fridge.  The result is a thick, creamy yogurt.

My preferred way:

2.  Bring a litre of full-cream milk to boiling temperature but do not boil.  Cool to blood temperature and mix your yogurt starter (bacterial culture found in the dairy cabinet at your health food store) with a drop of milk, then add the remainder of the milk.  I then pour mine into 7 small glass jars and turn on the yogurt machine for a 10 hour period, after which it turns off automatically.

Alternatively, you can pour the tepid mix into a thermos and leave it to sit somewhere warm for 15-24 hours.  If you use the latter approach, you will need to experiment a little.

My Turkish friends tell me that they leave the mix in a bowl and wrap the bowl with lots of towels for 24 hours to insulate and facilitate the culture, while sitting in a room-temperature oven (no heat.)

I used to make my own yogurt when my children were young and then I took a break.  Now, it is something I really enjoy making and when I can create the thick, creamy yogurt that is served everywhere in Turkey, I am especially happy.

Use this thick yogurt instead of cream, to stuff dried fruit, to mix with fresh fruit for dessert, and to serve atop home-made granola (recipe in a previous post.)

Enjoy …

I use Yogurmet bacterial cultures rather than a spoon from a previous batch, but I understand you can just keep using some of the previous batch to start a new batch.