Recipe Home-made Yoghurt

[Elawin]

I know there have been other posts/threads about home-made yoghurt, but this is the method which works for me!

Equipment

7 glass jars, size approx. 180 ml (hint: such as pesto jars, baby food jars, or even the jars that come with the yoghurt maker )
7 plastic screw top lids
Glass measuring jug
Stainless steel spoon
Large stainless steel saucepan
Small stainless steel milk jug
Milk Thermometer
Yoghurt maker (optional – see Method step 5)
Clean tea towel (optional – see Method step 5)
Milk powder (optional – see Note 3)

Ingredients

150 ml natural live plain yoghurt or Greek yoghurt, preferably organic
1.1 litres fresh milk, preferably from a previously unopened bottle

Method

1. Wash the glass jars in very hot, soapy water and sterilise in the oven or microwave.
2. Wash the plastic lids, jug, spoon, saucepan and milk jug in very hot, soapy water and wipe the milk thermometer.
3. Heat the milk over a medium heat, stirring frequently, to 85ºC/185ºF. Do not let it boil. Then quickly cool it to 43ºC/110ºF and take off any skin that has formed. (Heating the milk to 85ºC/185ºF kills any bacteria that might be present and changes the properties of the milk protein to give it a firm body and texture. It is important that the milk is not cooled to below 43ºC/110ºF)
4. Gently stir in the plain yoghurt until it has dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
5. Using the small milk jug, pour the mixture into the sterilised jars and place them, without lids, into the yoghurt maker. Cover the yoghurt maker with the lid. If you haven’t got a yoghurt maker, put the full jars on a tray, cover with the clean tea towel, and place in a warm place such as an airing cupboard or near a radiator. See below for maturing times.
6. Cover the individual jars with the plastic lids and place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours before eating.
7. You can flavour or sweeten the yoghurt after it has been refrigerated.
8. The yoghurt will keep for up to 7 days.

Maturing times:

Whole milk 8 hours
Semi-skimmed 2% 10 hours
Skimmed milk 12 hours

If you like a really firm yoghurt, you may need to leave it up to a couple of hours longer than these times.

Notes

1. Do not move the yoghurt maker or the jars until the yoghurt is set.
2. When removing the yoghurt maker lid or the tea towel, make sure that none of the water drips into the finished yoghurt.
3. If using pasteurised milk, there is no need to heat it, but the milk must be at room temperature before use and you should at least allow double the maturing times. For a firmer yoghurt without heating, add 10 tablespoons of milk powder to the room temperature, pasteurised milk.
4. If the yoghurt does not thicken, the milk may have been too hot when it was added, the use by date of the milk or the milk powder or the yoghurt starter had expired, the yoghurt had not been thoroughly mixed with the milk, or you were using a flavoured of sweetened yoghurt starter.
5. There may be a small amount of whey present in the finished yoghurt. Either pour it off or mix it in – it’s entirely up to you.
6. You can use pasteurised milk, powdered milk (mix according to pack instructions), long-life UHT sterilised milk, or UHT soy milk which contains at least one of the following ingredients: fructose, honey or malt. At least one of these ingredients is needed for fermentation.
7. Keep one jar back of each batch to use as a starter for the next batch if you are making yoghurt regularly every week. Do this for about 6 times, then get a fresh supply of yoghurt for the next batch.
8. If it’s a disaster, don’t despair. If it tastes OK, use it on your breakfast cereal or dessert, or in cooking where a firm yoghurt is not necessary, or even feed it to the dog (but not all at once!). Then try again.
   

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

This is pretty much what I do, only for soya milk (which must be heated to almost boiling and cooled first (and no, I don't know why yet)).

Another tip for a firmer yoghurt is also to add 2 tsp of brown sugar. You are not adding calories or sweetness to the yoghurt, far from it. You are feeding the cultures that make the yoghurt (as in cultures from the live yoghurt you have been using) and it gives it a kick start, reducing the time needed for a completely set yoghurt to 8hrs. I can guarantee that the yoghurt will not taste sweet at the end. My yoghurt maker (my new one) is a large 2L container (why I purchased it) rather than individual glass jars. I'm not certain which I actually prefer having used both.

 

[Elawin]

85ºC/185ºF is the temperature used to pasteurise milk, and you have to bear in mind that a lot of people prefer to use or indeed still only have access to raw milk. It is also the temperature at which milk just starts to rise in the pan, which is useful to know if you don't have a thermometer handy. 43ºC/110ºF is lukewarm, i.e. just above blood heat. It is the temperature at which you can normally stick your finger in the milk without it feeling uncomfortable.

I have tried not heating the milk and leaving the yoghurt for twice the time, but my kitchen is either far too hot to do that, or far too cold, depending on the time of year. It's a good back-up plan for if you forget to turn the yoghurt maker on, though

See Note 6 for the reasons for adding sugar to soy milk (well, at least, UHT soy milk) - I don't know if the same principles would apply to UHT [ordinary] milk, but I would have thought so. However, I will stick to my principles of not adding any sugar. I find the natural sugar in the unhomogenised organic whole farm milk which I use makes it sweet anyway, although, as you say, the resultant yoghurt does not taste sweet.

BTW I no longer use a fresh pot of yoghurt every six weeks, as stated in the recipe. I have been making yoghurt for so long now that I can tell when a fresh starter yoghurt is needed. Apart from anything else, the surface of the yoghurt does not look right and is starting to change. The yoghurt is still edible and won't hurt you, although I'd rather not risk making a further batch from it - a sick dog is the last thing I want or need The yoghurt I'm making at the moment last had its starter yoghurt changed about 3 months ago, or maybe longer. It has the consistency of Greek yoghurt and a very creamy texture. Note I say "starter yoghurt" and not "yoghurt starter". Yoghurt starters are not only very expensive, they are IMO a complete and utter waste of time and money.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Note I say "starter yoghurt" and not "yoghurt starter". Yoghurt starters are not only very expensive, they are IMO a complete and utter waste of time and money

I've gone over to using a non-dairy starter culture that I keep in the freezer because I was having a real problem with my soya milk yoghurt separating. Since then it has been fine, but the smallest quantity you can buy make approximately 200L (two hundred) of yoghurt for less than £10 taking the current exchange rate into account. It was a test to see what would happen and since then not a single batch has gone wrong. The soya milk I buy has virtually no additional things in it. No even emulsifiers. It is why I purchase it, to make silken tofu with! It doubles for making soya yoghurt as well. Much better than the sweet soya yoghurts we get here. Alpro could teach them a thing or two about soya everything here!