While exercising to fix the damage caused by eating too many baked goods, I often listen to food podcasts. I know the merits of this don’t stand up to close scrutiny, but it does mean my brain fills with useful food info even if I do rush home to cook more podcast-inspired calorific stuff.

On this occasion the result was healthy. There was an interesting piece on NPR’s food programme the other day about the surge in the number of Greek yoghurt bars opening in Athens in the past year or so. Apparently 70 or more of the bars are now vying for business. It seems the Greek staple that’s been taken for granted for so long - and thrown at pro-austerity politicians of late - is now regarded as a potential rescue line for the crippled economy.

In the US, they can’t get enough of the stuff. Last week New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo convened a yoghurt summit to devise ways to cut regulations and costs for farmers and producers to capitalise on a national boom for Greek-style yoghurt. (It uses three times the amount of milk than regular yoghurt).

I for one have never understood why Greek yoghurt hasn’t been more popular outside of Greece. My fondest memories of holidays in Greece are of the bowls of exquisitely creamy yoghurt served for breakfast, drizzled with floral honey, fruit and pine nuts. The consistency is wickedly indulgent and sensational just on on its own. And it really is a healthy food. Joanna Blythman has a terrific chapter about it in her indispensible book What to Eat.)

What is Greek yoghurt?

There seems to be a little disagreement about the precise definition of Greek yoghurt, but essentially it’s yoghurt that has been strained to remove some of the whey. Sometimes cream and/or milk powder is added but it’s the straining that makes the yoghurt particular thick and creamy.

Some Greek-style yoghurt, especially the low-fat versions available in UK supermarkets, can be quite runny, off-puttingly sour and actually not like Greek yoghurt should be at all. Until this week I thought the really thick stuff, which at its best tastes like cream, must be made from full-fat milk. I am happy to report that I was wrong.

I produced a really thick and creamy Greek-style yoghurt with this recipe using semi-skimmed milk. I had intended to try making it with full-fat milk as well, but I don’t think I’ll bother now. This low-fat version is so luscious I don’t need anything richer (although I would dearly love to make some with unpasteurized, non-homogenized cow juice straight from the udder). The thickness of your yoghurt will depend on how long you choose to strain it - I left mine for 6-7 hours and it was perfect for me. Leave it for long enough and it will actually become a delicious soft yoghurt cheese (known as labneh in some parts of the Middle East) that’s wonderful with salt, herbs and spices and doused in olive oil.

This batch was so fantastic and I wish I’d made more. I was so busy feeling pleased with myself that I had produced something so beautiful and delicious that I forgot to measure how much yoghurt 1 litre of milk actually yielded. I would guess at not much more than 500ml. Nonetheless, this is definitely cheaper than the shop-bought stuff and infinitely tastier.

Home-made Greeek-style yoghurt with strawberry compote and seeds

1. Place 1 litre of milk in a saucepan and heat to about 175°F (about 80°C). Take the pan off the heat and let the milk cool to 115°F (about 45°C). Add 2 teaspoons of live natural yoghurt (that contains live natural bacteria) and stir.

Cover with foil or a lid and transfer to an oven set to 150°F (about 50°C). My oven has a defrost setting that worked extremely well for this. If your oven doesn’t have a setting that low, try preheating it at the lowest setting for no more than 1 minute, place the pan in the oven and then switch it off. You will have to monitor the temperature with an oven thermometer and adjust as necessary to keep it barely warm. I left the pan in for a good 6 hours by which time the milk had turned to a jelly-like consistency and some of the whey had started to separate.

2. Tip the contents of the pan into a colander lined with muslin that you have set over a large bowl. I actually used a double layer of kitchen roll as I had run out of muslin, and while it worked really well in the straining process it proved difficult to scrape away the finished yoghurt without scraping off some of the paper. Some people use a muslin bag and hang it over a bowl but really, use whatever’s easiest. Using my method, fairly large quantities of golden whey began to to seep through quite quickly and the milk gradually became firmer and more yoghurty.

3. After 6-7 hours complete creamy loveliness was left behind in the colander. Some people use the whey in baking, and I have promised myself to try this, but I’m afraid I discarded mine in this instance.

4. To serve, I simply simmered some strawberries with a little icing sugar and a splash of fruit juice until the mixture turned into a thick compote. After it had cooled I spooned some into a small glass pot, added some of the yoghurt and sprinkled over seeds. A sublime good-for-you breakfast.