So, I’d been meaning to try making some dry yogurt for ages. You hear about it, and I was just curious, you know? Plus, I sometimes find regular yogurt a bit too… well, wet for certain things. So, I finally got around to it the other day.
First thing, I grabbed a big tub of plain Greek yogurt I had sitting in the fridge. I always go for Greek yogurt because, let’s be honest, they say it’s packed with protein, and I figure if you’re gonna do something, might as well start with good stuff. That’s my thinking anyway.
Then, I had to figure out the setup. It’s not complicated, really. I found a decent-sized bowl and a fine mesh strainer that would sit nicely on top of it. The key thing, or so I’d read, was cheesecloth. Luckily, I had some. I think I ended up using a couple of layers, just to be safe. I draped the cheesecloth inside the strainer, making sure it covered all the sides.
Alright, here’s what I did next:
I just scooped all that Greek yogurt right out of its tub and plopped it into the cheesecloth-lined strainer. I tried to spread it out a bit, nothing fancy. Then I just sort of loosely covered the top. I think I used the overlapping ends of the cheesecloth, or maybe it was a bit of plastic wrap. Can’t quite recall that bit exactly, but you get the idea – keep it covered.
And then came the waiting game. This is the part where you just gotta have patience. I stuck the whole contraption – bowl, strainer, yogurt – into the fridge. The idea is that all the extra liquid, the whey, slowly drips out into the bowl, leaving you with thicker yogurt.
I definitely peeked a few times. After a couple of hours, I could see some yellowish liquid starting to collect in the bowl. Success! It was working. I left it in there overnight. Then, I kind of forgot about it for most of the next day, to be honest. So, all in all, it was probably in there for a good 20 to 24 hours, maybe even a bit longer.
When I finally pulled it out to check properly, wow! The yogurt in the cheesecloth was seriously thick. It was way different from when I put it in. It had firmed up a lot, almost like a really soft cream cheese. And the bowl underneath? It had a good amount of that whey in it. It’s amazing how much liquid actually comes out.
So, this super thick stuff, that was my homemade ‘dry yogurt’. The taste was still that classic tangy yogurt flavor, but much more concentrated, much more intense. I’ve heard that the powdered yogurt you can buy doesn’t have the live cultures. My thinking is, since this was just regular yogurt with the water drained out, all those good probiotic benefits should still be there. It’s not like I cooked it or anything. And because I started with that protein-heavy Greek yogurt, this dry version must be like a protein bomb. It makes sense, right? You take out the water, you concentrate everything else.
I tried a little bit on its own. Very rich! I reckon it would be amazing for making dips, or even spreading on some hearty bread. Anything where you want that yogurt flavor but need it to be really thick and not make things soggy. It was actually pretty straightforward to do. The main ingredient you need, apart from yogurt, is just time. Lots of it.
