Strained yogurt, essential to Greek cooking, also just tastes better. If your local market does not carry Greek yogurt (I recommend Fage Total Classic), its not hard to make yourself. Sometimes I even strain strained yogurt, making it even thicker and stronger in flavor.
Cut a dishtowel-sized swathe of cheesecloth. Place plain (unflavored and unsweetened) yogurt of your choice in the middle of the cheesecloth. Bring the corners of the cheesecloth up, cinching the yogurt in a tight sack. Twist the corners of the cheesecloth, tightening the sack. Water will squeeze out. Continue squeezing, forcing the liquid out of the yogurt. Wipe down the cheesecloth with a paper towel. Tie the sack tight with a string, just above the yogurt. Place the cheesecloth sack in a colander placed inside a larger bowl. Place the bowl inside the refrigerator and let rest at least two hours. (If the yogurt is already strained, you can shorten this step.) If possible, periodically wipe down the cheesecloth with a paper towel. After several hours, remove from the refrigerator and tighten the sack one last time, squeezing out any remaining liquid. Open the cheesecloth and scoop out the yogurt. It should be at least as thick as sour cream.
Cheesecloth is messy. Use a coffee filter instead.
ReplyDeleteI generally recommend using coffee filters in tasks where cheesecloth is traditionally used--great tip.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, however, I suspect it would be hard to press and wring and cinch the yogurt in a coffee filter. And, particularly if the yogurt is very wet, I could see it ripping through the coffee filter once saturated.
I have used the cheesecloth and it works perfectly, not messy at all if you use a large enough piece of it.
ReplyDeletedo you have to replace the cheesecloth often - or does it hold it's integrity for several uses
ReplyDeleteAlthough the cheesecloth will hold its integrity, I would replace it after each use as it is going to be saturated with yogurt and cheesecloth is not expensive.
ReplyDeleteI've made labneh (yogurt cheese) using the paper coffee filter method the first couple of times and decided that I'd rather try cheesecloth the next time (still haven't gotten around to it). Using the coffee filter it seemed to take much longer to drain the whey off than I expected, and I wasn't able to speed it up by squeezing it. The filter seemed to hold the moisture instead of letting it drain through, and I'm pretty sure it clogged and was slowing things down that way too. I even tried putting paper towels under it (changing them out every couple hours) to see if I could wick more of the whey out, and it was better, but not where I wanted it. I'm going to be making another batch of yogurt here in the next couple days and will save back a pint or so and try the cheesecloth method to see if it works better or not.
ReplyDeleteIf y'all haven't seen it, check out the fankhauser's cheese/yogurt page. Lotsa really good info on dairy processing,etc.
I regularly strain yoghurt with muslin.
ReplyDeleteIf you strain for long enough (overnight) its easy to just roll out the ball of solids, rinse cloth and put in the clothes wash...
You can wash cheesecloth in a machine. I've never had any trouble with that.
ReplyDeleteI often strain plain yogurt, and combining coffee filters with a strainer seated over a bowl and leaving it overnight in the refrigerator produces the same results without the wringing and cinching. The end result is a very thick and creamy consistency that mixes incredibly well with jams and preserves for a delicious breakfast.
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