My eating habits leave a lot to be desired – I am a guilty snacker and definitely addicted to carbs & sugar – and I’ve continually vowed to change, but the truth is it’s not easy. I don’t particularly want to stop eating toast or cake or sweets, but it’s starting to bother me that I can’t keep up with the children when they run around. To that end, I got it into my head recently that I wanted to make my own yoghurt. My thinking behind this was quite simple – I want to know exactly what is in my food

and now I do! I remember making yoghurt in 4th year biology and not being particularly impressed but this time it was extremely easy and felt rewarding because I’d made it myself. A point to note if you decide to do this is that home-made yoghurt has no thickener added so it’s going to be a lot runnier than store-bought yoghurt which some people might find offputting. I’m reliably assured that adding approximately a cupful of dried milk powder will solve this issue. I made mine in the slow cooker and this is how:

You will need:
A slow cooker
Milk (I used a 2.2l jug of semi-skimmed)
Optional: One cup dried milk powder
A small pot of plain live yoghurt (you need this as a “starter”)
Storage for your home-made yoghurt.

One word of advice – there are long periods of leaving things to work while you’re making yoghurt. Personally, being a bit of an old fart I don’t like pottering around in the kitchen late at night so leave five hours before you go to bed to start this off. I wouldn’t kick this off any later than 5pm at night.

Before you start, make sure you have appropriate storage for your yoghurt. I sterilised a few 1l kilner-type jars (available from Ikea for 89p each or Lakeland for £14.99 per half dozen) and since we expect to use this yoghurt quickly this size of jar works well for us. I wouldn’t sterilise your storage until about an hour before your yoghurt will be finished.

Take out your slow cooker (I have a Morphy Richards 6.5l one which I’ve found here for £29.99) and turn it on to the low setting. Pour your milk in (if you’re using milk powder add that now & whisk), pop the lid on and leave it for three hours.
After the three hours, switch your slow cooker off. Take your pot of natural yoghurt – this will be your starter – out of the fridge and leave the yoghurt and milk for a further two hours.
After two hours, add your yoghurt into the milk working quickly so as not to cool the milk down too much. Replace the lid of the slow cooker and cover the slow cooker with towels then leave it overnight for a minimum of eight hours.

When you wake up, sterilise your jars and allow them to cool before adding the yoghurt – you don’t want to kill off the good bacteria, not least because if you want to make yoghurt again then you’ll need a decent cupful of this stuff as the starter for your next batch! This will safely keep in the fridge for a week or so.

I also made my own AMAZING muesli yesterday which I shall blog tomorrow for you – this yoghurt goes really well with it topped with a spoonful of honey

Being of a green and thrifty nature myself it’s really pleasing just how much money and plastic packaging we’ve saved by making this yoghurt and the kids are totally tickled with the idea of home-made yoghurt. Hopefully this can be my first step on the road to eating a little better. Let me know if you try this!

Posted under cooking, recipes