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So you don't heat treat the milk or use UHT? I wonder what I did wrong? I used ordinary milk and a bit of live yogurt in my Easi yo and it stayed really runny.

I have just made some more with UHT and added a couple of spoons of dried milk too. Will try it for breakfast. Thanks for all the help.

Lassi come home!!!!

I don't heat the milk as I am using the heated yogurt pot thingie, an electric long thing that takes five pots. If I wasn't I would heat to blood warm, and keep in an insulated box.

Lee

If your milk is pasturised, why do you boil it? Just curious.

lee

Hi Lee, boiling the milk and simmering for 10 mins reduces the quantity, then when made into yoghurt it is thicker and has a natural layer of cream on the top. Also it retains the sweetness of fresh milk which you dont get in supermarket yoghurt.

Hey, I've just noticed my new picture, wow

I forgot about the stuff I made last night until 4 pm today - you are supposed to remove it from the Easiyo after 6 or 7 hours or it gets a bit sharp. It is very sharp, so I don't know if addiing the dried milk made any difference!

Think I will need to experiment until I get a milder result. Will try boiling the milk first next time.

Need to add my bit on yoghurt, too...

I don't use any fancy gear, I just use an empty icecream tub (the flat type), and stick it on the radiator. Bit of a problem in summer, of course, but summers tend to be rather short here, and since I also dry my clothes over the radiator (on one of those pull-up thingies that hang from the ceiling - never know what they are really called), the radiator has to be on occasionally anyway. Just need to co-ordinate everything properly.

I have used a wide-mouth flask in the past, too, and that worked fine for me, until the flask broke.

I use a pint of pasteurised semi-skimmed, bring it to the boil, whisk in a tablespoon of dried milk (full fat), stick the pan in cold water to cool it down to body temperature relatively quickly, stir in a tablespoon of yoghurt and tip it in the tub; then leave it in a warm place (airing cupboard will do, if you have one and it is warm enough, or the side of Raeburn or Aga...) for 5-10 hours, depending on heat.

The pasteurised milk is not quite as sterile as UHT, that's why it has to be boiled, otherwise non-beneficial cultures can overpower the desired yoghurt cultures and cause the end product to be thin. Simmering it for 10 minutes produces the same results as adding dried milk - but I tend to burn my milk! And I know the commercial yoghurt producers do it by adding milk powder, too (unless they add something cheaper to make it set, like gelatine, or something starchy... Yuk!)

I don't make my own regularly, but I do it when I end up with too much milk in the fridge. Before I dump it, I rather make yoghurt.

Getting hungry now; I think I still have some yoghurt in the fridge, and last years final jar of strawberry jam...

Cheers
Ina

we find that warming the flask with boiling water, while the milk is warming to blood temperature, makes much thicker yoghurt.... guess it just stays warmer longer...

Someone told me to heat 1pint of milk to boiling point then leave it to cool until it feels warm. Take a tablespoon of live yoghurt and mix it with a little of the warm milk. Add the milk/yoghurt to the rest of the milk and stir it in, put it in the flask and leave it for around eight hours. Ready to eat.

You can add honey or fruit to it, but take out another tablespoon for use next time...


We get through so much yog in this house - will this work do you think?

i notice andy (catalyst) giving advice about how to make yoghurt - in fact it's me that makes it and him that eats it

if you use uht/long-life milk (the only sort that's widely available in portugal) there's no need to boil it, just warm to blood temp - test with your finger. i make it in the morning, take it out of the flask in the evening and put in the fridge overnight - putting it in the fridge will help it thicken up a bit more.

ours was sometimes coming out a bit runny and i realised this was when i hadn't bothered to warm the flask first.

Well I'm now inspired. Been thinking of making yoghurt for a little while so tomorrow I'll give it a go.

will let you know how it goes...