Cooking with Jonny69: home made yoghurt

[Jonny69]

Something I've always wanted to have a go at is home made yoghurt. The prospect of creating a live culture in my kitchen has always been daunting. That said, tragically watching QVC, I've seen adverts for EasiYo which makes yoghurt from nothing more than powdered milk in a special yoghurt maker powered by hot water. Hmm, I figured it would be better with fresh milk, the more cream the better and I wouldn't need a special yoghurt maker to do it! The way yoghurt works is you introduce a culture into milk and keep it warm so that it breeds and the whole lot turns into yoghurt. You use a live yoghurt for the culture and I used a Thermos flask to keep it warm overnight.

It's really simple:

1. Boil some milk and let it cool to 45 degrees,
2. Add yoghurt
3. Pour it into a Thermos and leave it overnight
4. Yoghurt for breakfast!

Here's how you do it step-by-step with pictures...

1. Boil a litre of milk. You can use whole milk or skimmed, but the more cream the creamier it tastes. Let it cool to 45 degrees - if you don't have a thermometer this is about the same temperature as a hot bath. In a bowl, mix about 2 tablespoons of plain Greek yoghurt with a splash of the warm milk to make it runny. You need live yoghurt and I used Fage Total yoghurt because it was the only one that said it was live yoghurt on the tub. Stir it into the milk in the pan and pour the whole lot into a Thermos. The more manly the flask at this point, the better the yoghurt will taste. For example, this 1.3 litre unbreakable stainless flask will taste the best:



2. Leave it overnight. I tend to do this at about 9-10pm after I've eaten dinner and it's ready by 7am, so it doesn't take long. The next morning when you take the lid off the flask you'll see the bubbles from the milk froth are still there except it's now super thick and it smells like creamy yoghurt:



3. Check it out, it is still warm, it is ready to eat and it is THICK



4. Yogurt from a tub tends to separate slightly and this is no different. It'll be a bit lumpy at this point. Pour it into a jar and give it a brisk stir, or if you want it extra thick you can pour away some of the liquid. Now you have a litre of some of the most amazing yoghurt:



Important: This will be the most amazing yoghurt you've ever tasted. Make sure you don't scoff it all, because you need to leave about 2 tablespoons for when you make it again next time

[LeperousDust]

Sounds very interesting! The girl loves her yoghurt right now, always looking for natural yoghurt etc... Might mention this to her, cheap way to use up the milk we buy as well as save money otherwise.

[Lozza]

I make yoghurt on a weekly basis.. have done now since the beginning of last year when I got lucky on freecycle and got one of these old BEL ones:



I love it! Really looking forward to the fruit coming this summer as combined they are amazing

[Jonny69]

Wow, that's a bit of kit and a half! Does it sterilise as well?

[Jonny69]

I can confirm that Actimel makes yoghurt. Now to try Yakult...

[Fayshun]

Originally Posted by Jonny69

I can confirm that Actimel makes yoghurt. Now to try Yakult...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actimel

Contains all the yoghurt bugs.

Yakult, does not. It may just make more Yakult...

[leowyatt]

If you are making yoghurt with yoghurt. Why not just eat the yoghurt you bought?

[Kitten]

Is it quite fatty if you're using full fat milk? Or can you use skimmed/semi?

[SidewinderINC]

Originally Posted by leowyatt

If you are making yoghurt with yoghurt. Why not just eat the yoghurt you bought?

Because if you make more yoghurt, you can eat more yoghurt

[Fayshun]

Originally Posted by SidewinderINC

Because if you make more yoghurt, you can eat more yoghurt

Yoghurt, the gift that keeps on giving!