Bacterial Fermentation Fun. (AKA yoghurt)

When the crafty goodness slows, it's nice to know the foodie goodness just keeps on rolling in the kitchen. I've recently got into a good rhythm of making my own yoghurt.
Despite  drinking/using very little milk, I'm lucky enough to have a proper old fashioned milkman, the kind who leaves the glass bottles on the doorstep and picks up the empties, so making yoghurt was the next step in kicking another bit of plastic to the curb. I get two extra pints of organic full fat (yes! full fat!) left on a Monday and for 15 mins kitchen pottering and the princely sum of £1.37, my hungry chilluns get a little over two pints of organic sugar free goodness. Thrifty AND good for you.  Remember, live yoghurt has been eaten for thousands of years. The Ancient Assyrians called it 'lebney' which means 'life'. The live cultures in yoghurt have been shown to aid the digestive and immune systems and provides the enzymes that we people need to digest milk products. Pharoahs feasted on the stuff, and so can you.

The internet is full with yoghurt making tutorials, but it still took me a good while of trial and error to get the method which works best for me, which I'll share here.

Collect together:

• a saucepan large enough to hold all your milk 
• a jar/container to hold your yoghurt (2 pints of milk completely fills a 1 litre kilner jar and leaves a couple of spoon over for sampling the finished product) 
• a way to incubate. I use a wide necked large thermos flask for incubating, but you can use your oven (if you can set the temp that low) or a large cooler bag/box or a heat pad.  
• a candy thermometer - useful but not essential
• your milk
• starter yoghurt (appx 3tbsps per pint)
• dried milk powder. Optional, but helps the yoghurt to thicken. Use at a ratio of 25g per pint (or guesstimate like I do by throwing in a few tablespoons of the stuff)

Start by making sure all of the equipment above is scrupulously clean. If you are using a thermos to incubate your yoghurt, fill with boiling water and screw the lid on before beginning.

• Add milk to saucepan and whisk in powdered milk
• Heat to appx 180F/80C. If you have no thermometer, heat until milk is steaming and gently bubbling around edges. 
• Now cool it! Either pour into a warmed bowl, or run a few inches of cold water into the sink and pop your entire saucepan in there. You want to cool it to 110F/45C. For the thermometer-less, dip in an extremely clean finger and if you can hold it there for 20 seconds without it being unduly uncomfortable you should be good to go.
• Whisk in your starter yoghurt
• Now incubate for 7-8 hours or overnight. For those using a thermos, empty out your hot water and pour the yoghurt mixture straight in. Screw on your lid and then I tend to wrap it in a teatowel and put it in a plastic carrier bag for a bit of extra insurance (though probably unnecessary!). Alternately pour into your container and leave the lid unclosed if incubating in the oven (at 110F) or wrap in towels and place in a cool bag. 

My first attempt was a very chunky/grainy consistency. Apparently putting your yoghurt somewhere very cold as soon as it's done incubating can stop this, but I haven't had this happen since I started incubating in the thermos.

Et voila! Yoghurt of wonder. Sweeten to taste with honey or maple syrup, swirl into lentil soup, bake eggs in it, coat your face in it. Don't roll around in it though, you'd need a lot of yogurt for that.

And on to the other perks of having a ready supply of tasty tasty yoghurt:

1. It inspires a wonderful desire to keep the granola rolling in. The mix you see here is 3.5 cups of rolled oats, 1 cup of pumpkin seeds, 1 cup of coconut flakes, 1/2 cup of crushed almonds (beaten with a rolling pin), 1 tbsp of cinnamon and 2 grated eating apples. Combine in a bowl. Meanwhile, gently warm 6tbsps of coconut oil with 1/2 cup of maple syrup or honey and pour onto oat mix. Stir thoroughly then spread onto two lined baking sheets and bake for 20 mins at 350F/180C, stirring halfway through. Leave to cool thoroughly on sheets before transferring to a container. This mix fills to the brim a 2L jar.

2: The wherewithal to make paneer as desired and so be only steps away from a world of delicious curries. I like this Anjum Anand recipe.