We have now made three lots of yoghurt in the new gadget
Lynne kindly sent me some notes on what to do with it :)
I should do some sums and work out how much I have to make before the yoghurt maker pays for itself – actually I can’t be bothered, after all how do I cost the whey which I can use to bake bread? Can’t buy that anywhere locally..
- No 1 with easi yo packet plus water to fill up jar ( a litre in all) – this one split into curds and whey. Why? Think it’s not supposed to be made in an electric yoghurt maker but in the easi yo kit. Made some fabulous whey and labneh from it all the same.
- No 2 with a litre of UHT full cream milk plus 2 spoons Marvel skimmed milk powder plus 2 teaspoons of live Yeo Valley yoghurt – perfect set but a bit bland. The easiest method as it doesn’t involve heating milk.
- No 3 with a litre of fullcream organic milk (heated and left to cool and forgotten about for 6 hours) plus 2 spoons Marvel plus 2 teaspoons of live Yeo Valley yoghurt – a little more whey but a good set
Brian preferred the UHT and I preferred the almost organic one – don’t know if one can buy organic skimmed milk powder somewhere but I will look around.
What I’ve learnt so far….yoghurt making is much easier than making bread…..
Do not use more than two teaspoons of starter yoghurt to a litre of milk, it’s very similar to leaven in that regard. Less is more.
Do not mix it up too much, it doesn’t need it.
Don’t joggle it about while it is setting, it likes to be left alone.
To turn it into yoghurt cheese – labneh – rumoured to be lower in calories than cream cheese – line a sieve with muslin, and let the yoghurt drain through for a day in a cool place. I made little balls of cheese rolled in a mixture of zaartar, salt and pepper – sweet paprika – oregano to go with last night’s supper of salad, fried almonds, and Ottolenghi’s legume and noodle soup from The Guardian.
Eaten for breakfast with honey and hazelnuts and a couple of slices of the legendary delicate milk loaf!
What do you do with your yoghurt?
Zeb Bakes 
Hi Jo, option 2 is what Pete does – UHT milk plus full cream milk powder plus Greek yoghurt in the Easiyo thermos, then leave it for eight to twelve hours.
We use our yoghurt for all sorts of things – I use it in all cake recipes that call for sour cream. I also mix a little with skim milk (UHT) and use it as a buttermilk substitute when I don’t have the real deal. We’ve also tried adding a little Greek yoghurt to cream to culture it before turning it into butter.
When we have people for brunch, Pete will often make a big batch of flavoured yoghurt, starting with the thick homemade Greek stuff and adding thickened cream and cooked berries in syrup to it. Very decadent! :)
Celia xx
You and Pete probably have a smaller carbon footprint with the thermos than the electric one, Celia!
There is a little story about the only time I made yoghurt as a kid: my mother used to order two pots of cream each week from the milkman and they wouldn’t get used, so one day there were six cartons of cream in the fridge and I had read about making yoghurt with it and just took them all out and did it and offered it up for pudding.
It was divine! I wasn’t allowed to do it again though :)
Forgot to say I feed the bread starter with a bit of yoghurt from time to time – you get a lovely sweet scented starter that way too!
I’ve been so interested in making my own yogurt for ages . . . meant to try it last summer and then got so caught up in bread baking . . . maybe this summer! The kiddos eat yogurt every morning (often with granola) for breakfast. We use it in place of milk in our steel cut oats, too. Yum!
Hi Abby – If you are eating it every day then give it a go! Then you can make whey bread and yoghurt cakes too!
Hi, Joanna
my favorite thing to do with yogurt is this:
http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/2007/06/french-style-yogurt-cake.html
I haven’t made yogurt in a while, but last year we went through a stretch of months in a row with exclusively homemade yogurt in the house…. so good!
HI Sally, that recipe sounds good! Thanks for the link. Jo
I am a bit late to respond on this one ..pc problems..need I say more. The home made yoghurt is fabulous with toasted caramelised oatmeal ( Delia has a recipe on her web for Caledonian ice cream that is a perfect way to caramelise) and home made strawberry jam..layer in a glass..fool yourself it is good for you…enjoy….I got the inspiration from Pam the Jam in her lovely RiverCottage jam book. She recommends double cream and Drambuie so I have brought it down to earth. The whey makes a lovely loaf.
Sounds delicious! Strangely enough I read something in a book yesterday called Cooking With Grains where the author makes icecream with toasted oatmeal, maybe it was a Delia recipe she was borrowing?
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