For about a year I have been going on and on that I wanted to make my own yogurt.
Living as we do in a small Parisian appartment, Wayne has been totally against my buying a yogurt maker. Another thing to take up room.
Crazy really as we eat a lot of yogurt. Wayne has one, sometimes two pots a day of flavoured yogurt. I eat at least one a day of natural greek style yogurt. So I buy almost 30 yogurts a week.
Whilst in Australia Mum gave me my Grandfathers yogurt maker. It is a simple glass flask inside a thermos. I carried it carefully home and had it sitting looking at me all through Christmas. Chastising me for not using it yet.
Well, I finally made my yogurt a few days ago.... and am kicking myself for not doing this years ago. So easy, so tasty and so satisfying.
Now I just have to remember to buy milk........
Homemade yogurt
1 litre of fresh milk (full cream is best but you can use any)
3-4 tablespoons natural yogurt with active cultures, at room temp
Bring milk almost to boil in a large very clean saucepan. When you see little bubbles around edge of pan take off heat.
Allow to cool till you can put your finger in (around blood temp or 37degrees).
Mix a little of the warm milk with the yogurt. Add to pan of milk and mix well.
Pour into glass flask and place in thermos for 8 to 12 hours. Do not peek till done!
Place in fridge overnight to chill before using.
Add fruit or cereal before serving.
Notes:
I used semi skimmed milk. Any milk will work, but the higher the fat content the thicker the yogurt will be.
The longer you leave the mix to rest the thicker the end result. At 8 hours have a look and gently tilt the glass flask. If it is almost at the correct consistancy then it is done. It will set more after refridgeration.
You can use yogurt from old batch to make a new batch. After a while it will not work as well, and then you buy a pot of fresh yogurt and use it as the starter.
I bought small glass jars with screw top lids to decant the yogurt into after the initial chill time. Easy portion control and fits into the fridge better.
For Wayne, I put a layer of homemade red fruits preserves in the base of the pot and then topped it up with the yogurt. It looks fabulous, and he said it tasted great.
Apparently you can make yogurt without any special equipment. You just need a warm place to sit a glass flask while the mixture does its magic. An oven with the pilot light on, a heat pad that you drape around the flask, etc. Will leave the experimentation to you. I am happy with my method for now.
