How to make yoghurt – simple recipe

If you look at the price of a litre of milk and the price of a dinky pot of yoghurt it is clear that yoghurt manufacturers are making a healthy profit. If only it were possible to make yoghurt at home… It is.

All you need is a wide-necked thermos flask, some milk, a pot of yoghurt and some milk powder. Want to know how to make yoghurt? Read on.

yoghurt

It is best to use long-life milk as this has less bacteria in compared to pasteurised millk and the bacteria which produce the yoghurt will have less competition. Heat half a litre of milk so that it is slightly warmer than your (washed) finger. Reconstitute a dessertspoonful of milk powder but just use a little water. Add this to your milk. You don’t have to use the extra milk powder but it does make your yoghurt much thicker (and tastier).

 

 

yoghurtUse a plain white yoghurt. It doesn’t have to be a probiotic macro organic version. As long as it is yoghurt and not one of the sickly sweet tubs of coloured wallpaper paste that masquerade as yoghurt, then you’re okay. Add most of your pot to the wide-necked thermos. (Rinse it with boiling water to kill off any unwanted bugs first). Then add the warm milk to the yoghurt which should make the mixture around 38-40 degrees Celsius. Screw the top on firmly and leave it out of harm’s way for at least 8 hours, preferably double that.

 

yoghurt in a thermosAnd after about eight hours (good thing to leave it over night) hey presto, amazing creamy yoghurt. Transfer it to a container so that you can keep it in the fridge. If you eat a lot of yoghurt, don’t empty the thermos completely, leave about half a pot of yoghurt inside – and pour in more warm milk with reconstituted milk powder and you’re off again. You’ll probably find that it works 4-5 times but if it doesn’t work, it is time to splash out on a new pot of white yoghurt to start a new culture.

 

What to do with the yoghurt? Eat it with muesli, use it to make salad dressing, make Greek tzaziki (squeeze the juice out of the cucumber or it will be too runny), make Indian Lassi (come home), make Iranian Doogh, make ice cream with it, eat it with a dollop of your favourite jam… the possibilities are virtually endless.

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