Monday 14 January 2013

Making yoghurt

My sister gave me a wonderful and very thoughtful Christmas present this year, a yoghurt maker. Now I have made yoghurt lots of times before with various results. The method I used most often was to put the milk/yoghurt mixture in a flask for a few hours to maintain the temperature required. The downside of this method was that it was a little bit hit and miss. Sometimes it would come out very well, but other times I would end up with a grainy mixture that looked a little curdled and other times it would separate too much, leaving me a lot of buttermilk and not so much yoghurt. The other downside was that the flask got very smelly. Hard to clean out a flask with a small opening that has contained yoghurt.
Well this yoghurt maker that I was given is very simple. It works on the same principle as a slow cooker, maintaining a very low but constant temperature while the yoghurt is made. It is cheap to run, even cheaper than a slow cooker and the yoghurt it made was absolutely perfect.
The principle is an easy one. 2 teaspoons of live yoghurt and a litre of milk. I always use UHT milk because it saves the hassle of having to boil and sterilise ordinary milk. Put the milk and yoghurt in the maker, turn it on and in 8 hours lovely creamy yoghurt. It is really really good, very perfect.
I am sure it is possible to achieve equally good results without it, but I must admit, I sort of wandered away from making yoghurt because my results before were so hit and miss. This makes life much easier. 

And the best bit? 2 teaspoons of this yoghurt will go to make another litre of the stuff when I am running low. Eternal, cheap yoghurt if I organise myself. This will do breakfast every day and I am going to look up other things I can do with it now that I have such a large, cheap supply (about 80p for a litre of yoghurt)


10 comments:

  1. Snap! We have just bought one as my last 3 lots of yoghurts have failed and I've had to strain it. End result, nearly all buttermilk, very little yoghurt. Just made my first batch last night with UHT but not very thick and I added 2 spoonfuls of dried milk. Ah well, bound to get better and as you say, so cheap.

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  2. What make of yoghurt maker is it? I've had hit and miss results too, it put me off trying.

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    1. It's from Lakeland, their own make. I'm afraid I don't know how much it was, because it was a present, but I am sure it is on their website.

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  3. I had never seen such a maker where you have the whole bulk - we know the ones with 9 or more glasses. But we consume so much of it that it might be interesting to see what it looks like ! I think my breakfasts are all the tastier with our home made yoghurts. I also add two spoons of dried milk. Happy yoghurting !

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    1. Yes, a lot of people seem to add dried milk to it. I might try that.

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  4. I've had a yogurt maker for many years thanks to a free gift from Rosemary Connely. I use it on a regular basis but as I have a gluten and lactose sensitivity I use lactose free milk and the yogurt is lovely and creamy x

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  5. I make a gallon at a time - pour the yogurt into 4 recycled 1-quart commercial yogurt cartons, leave them (covered with a towel) on an old heating pad turned on low for 5 hours, then pop the cartons into the fridge overnight. Voila 4 quarts of yogurt for the cost of the milk and 1/2C starter from previous batch. It doesn't get much cheaper than that. Glad your new toy is encouraging you to make some more often. Enjoy.

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  6. I make yoghurt using a flask and once the yoghurt is ready I give it a good mix to get the lumps out. Then I spray the inside of the flask with vinegar giving it a scrub with a washing up brush. I then fill the flask with boiling water, put the lid on and leave it for a bit. Then after that I might give it a scrub with vinegar again and rinse it out. Then I usually push a tea towel inside, swish it around with a mixing spoon to dry it and then pull it out again. It works brilliantly for me and I have great yoghurt every time.

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  7. I make yoghourt too, so satisfying and definitely more tasty. Kudos to you.

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