welcome back to part three of my yogurt series where I answer all your most common questions about making yogurt via trial and error in previous episodes we made Greek yogurt i showed you guys how to use frozen yogurt starter to make your yogurt and we made yogurt using 0% skimmed milk and I get it i say yogurt a lot in these videos take a shot every time she says yogurt you can stop leaving me these comments okay i’m Muslim anyway we don’t do shots go pray or donate to the poor or something anyway today I’m showing you how to turn your homemade yogurt into homemade lena and if you don’t know what Lebna is it’s a creamy thick and tangy dip almost like the consistency of a cream cheese but tangier it’s a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine often eaten for breakfast topped with some olive oil and eaten with pita bread so before we can make le we need to make lean which is just plain yogurt for this one you’ll want to use the full fat stuff for the thickest yogurt and the best flavor so like we’ve been doing in previous videos bring your bag of milk to a boil about 180° F then let it cool down to 120° before adding your yogurt starter and your yogurt starter is just whatever brand of store-bought yogurt you prefer or your homemade yogurt from a previous bath and if you don’t have a thermometer you can always do the pinky test to check that the milk is at 120° by sticking your pinky into the milk and if you can barely tolerate it for 10 seconds it’s ready and if you think that’s gross don’t do it for your own yogurt okay then cover it up and wrap it in a thick blanket you want to maintain the level of warmth inside the milk because bacteria thrives in warm environments and you want the bacteria to multiply thus turning the milk into yogurt this time we let it incubate for 24 hours because we’re making lebna and lebnbna is meant to be tangy and after the 24 hours we put it in the fridge overnight to chill at this point you’ll have made a beautiful batch of thick and tangy yogurt but we’re not done yet to turn this into leer we’re going to transfer it to a cheesecloth or a muslin cloth and we’re going to add salt to it my general ratio for salt to lean is usually 1 liter of lean to 1 teassp of salt in this case I’m doing half a liter of lean so I’m doing half a teaspoon of salt mix the salt in and you can actually do this before adding it to the cheesecloth but I like to work harder not smarter i also didn’t want to dirty an extra bowl you know what I mean let this strain for anywhere between 24 to 48 hours depending on how thick you like it and then it’s ready to serve if you wanted to enjoy this dip without having to make the yogurt yourself you could always buy your favorite container of plain yogurt from the grocery store add the salt to it and let it strain for the 24 to 48 hours and then you can enjoy your lepn or you could just buy storebought len but that would be kind of putting me out of business here like I’m trying to teach you guys how to make lena regardless of how you obtain your lepne I highly recommend you serve it in this way with some diced cucumbers tomatoes and mechus dried mint salt and olive oil so good
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Homemade Labneh
Thick & tangy middle eastern yogurt spread
Skip the grocery store and use what’s left on the bottom of your yogurt container to make a whole new batch of homemade yogurt!
CHECK THE COMMENTS FOR TIPS & NOTES!
Why make your own yogurt?
1. Milk is cheaper than yogurt
2. Use the last batch of yogurt to make a new batch.. Infinite yogurt glitch
3. Uhmm hello.. you just made your OWN YOGURT.
Give it a try ⤵️
4L whole milk 3.25%
1 tsp (or more) plain yogurt with active cultures
Add the milk to a large pot and heat it up on the stove, stirring constantly, just until it comes up to just before boiling point (about 180F), once you see the first sign of a bubble, you can remove from the heat.
Reserve 1 ladle of the hot milk in a bowl to cool down faster than the pot. At this time, also set aside 1 tsp of yogurt in another bowl to come to room temperature.
Then, cool down the pot of milk to 120F by placing it in an ice bath in the sink for about 10 minutes, or about 30 mins just sitting at room temp without the ice bath. You know it’s cooled enough when you can withstand putting your pinky in it for 10 seconds, or use a thermometer. It should still be hot. Remove it from the ice bath.
Mix together the reserved yogurt starter into the reserved ladle of milk (doesn’t need to be totally smooth), then add it to the pot of milk and whisk it in gently.
Cover the pot with a lid, then with a couple layers of towel or blanket. Set it aside somewhere draft-free where it won’t be bothered or touched. Let it incubate untouched for anywhere between 8-24 hours, depending on the level of tang you’re looking for. The longer it incubates, the thicker it’ll be and the more sour it’ll be. I do 24 hours for a tangy yogurt used in Arabic cooking. After 24 hours, unravel the towel/blankets and transfer straight to the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours (preferably overnight) before scooping from it. Try not to open the lid so as not to introduce new bacteria into your yogurt.
To turn into labneh:
Add 1 tsp of salt for every 1L of yogurt.
Strain the yogurt in a cheesecloth or muslin cloth for 24-24 hours in the fridge.
Then spread onto a platter, top with olive oil, dried mint and Aleppo peppers (and/or toppings of your choice) and enjoy with bread & fresh vegetables, and a cup of tea.
TIPS & NOTES:
– You NOT need to use 4L of milk. Use as much or as little as you’d like, the method shown in the video stays the same
– You do NOT need to incubate for 24 hours. I do this because I use it in savoury preparations like stews, salads and dips so I like for it to be sour. The longer you incubate, the more tang. If you want to use it in sweet preparations like breakfast or just don’t want it to be sour, incubate for only 8 hours before refrigerating
– If you would like to flavour your yogurt with fruit or jam, I’d recommend doing that after it’s fermented and set. If you would like to sweeten or add vanilla to the whole batch, do that as you’re bringing the milk up to heat so that it dissolves and disperses evenly
– You don’t have to leave the yogurt in the same pot to ferment. You can gently pour it into another jar or container that the yogurt will set in and then transfer to the fridge
– For a super thick & creamy yogurt, use whole fat milk and whole fat
– Make sure to use a yogurt starter from yogurt you ACTUALLY ENJOY, your yogurt will mimic it
I really want to try and make my own yoghurt. Can I use jug / uht milk? I've never seen milk in bags before
I loooooove your Videos !
Thanks for teaching us ❤
Labneh is one of my favourite spreads. I’m going to have to make it for my German language class here in Germany. A lot of them are Middle Eastern and I think that would appreciate it.
Wish you were my neighbor. I would love to share the gifts of friendship and food with you. I wish you the best.
its almost like the video is about making…. yogurt GASP
And if YOU think thats gross…. dont do it.
– queen
“go pray or donate to the poor or something” LMAOOO
YUMMMMM
Get'em!!!
Oohhh I've got your plate, I feel cool 😎🌻
I wish we had bags of milk!
you are so funny, i love you!
Can we use kefir instead of yogurt?
Looks amazing 😍😍😍
When I saw it come out of the blanket, oughh the bubble indents- I want a bite so bad
When you strain it, do you keep it refrigerated or outside?
"Donate a dollar to charity every time she says yogurt" goes hard
I use my tofu press [tofudee] to strain yogurt for labneh. I just line it with cheese cloth and set the press to the most relaxed settings. It works beautifully!
Ontario bag milk 😂
One rakaat for every time she says yogurt
You are like fresh breath of air among all these influencers
There’s a sandwich we do here with same ingredients minus the cucumber and add pieces of toasted bread (the same type u have) yum
As a turkish i can say it is not labneh. It is just salty plain yogurt. (We have this in turkey also)
Allahi Hafdek oukhti, you made me laugh 😆
This is basically cream cheese tho right
I had a feeling you were in Canada
Doesn’t the bacteria in your batch of frozen ‘starter’ yoghurt die in the freezer?
Can you make yogurt with Lactose free milk? I can’t digest Lactose but would like to do a homemade yogurt recipe anyways thank you for the video it’s very good. ❤
This was so funny! I have been recently craving toum but am trying to lose weight. It doesn’t resemble toum but I blend garlic and yoghurt and it does scratch that itch 🙂
The way you pronounce labne caresses my brain ❤