Remember when I made homemade yogurt a few months ago? At the time, I mentioned that the homemade version is not as thick as store-bought. For the most part, it was ok although sometimes when adding fresh fruit, the mixture ended up rather thin, especially with juicier fruit.
The last time I decided to make yogurt, I decided to try an experiment and make Greek-style yogurt by draining the remaining whey from the finished product. I pulled the cast iron pot out of the oven in the morning, lined a strainer with coffee filters, placed it over a bowl and dumped the yogurt in the strainer. It sat in the refrigerator until that night – approximately 10 hours.
The result? A super-thick yogurt!

It was really hard to get a picture of just how thick it was, so this is a picture of a dollop of the Greek-style on top of my standard yogurt. Hopefully you get a little insight into the difference. This stuff is so thick you could easily substitute it for sour cream!
I never understood the claims that Greek yogurt contained twice (or is it more?) as much protein as regular yogurt. Now I know why. When I made standard yogurt, I start with 2 quarts of milk and end up with 2 quarts of yogurt. Makes sense, right? After straining this yogurt, I was able to only fill 2 PINTS! That’s half the amount that I started with.
So … would I make this again? Maybe, if I wanted a healthier version of sour cream or something to use for baking. But for eating-yogurt, I found it just too thick for my tastes. I’d like to find a texture somewhere in-between … which means maybe I need to make on a weekend so I can drain the way for only a couple of hours instead of all day.
You probably already know this, but the whey can be used in baking :}
I was going to say, yes I do know, but I guess I should clarify: I know in theory. Can’t say I’ve used whey for anything other than making ricotta, and I’m not sure how that would work with yogurt whey. Do you have some favorite uses?
I’ve used it in making bread, just replacing whatever liquid the recipe calls for.