Suzy makin' yoghourt

Well today isn't nearly as hot as yesterday - it was just hideous! I actually got a couple of naps in yesterday though, despite the heat, as the boy-child went off to school for the day. I had all these intentions of sewing and cooking, but the urge for a sleep catch up day was too great. "Sleep when the baby sleeps" is my mantra - stuff the house.

Today, with boy-child in tow, I am back to being a bit more productive. We have "put clothes on" our gingerbread men, and eaten most of them already, mopped the floor together (that's just so much fun for mummy), he's currently munching on little pizzas and mummy has just put on the yoghourt.

So, as requested here is my yoghourt making master class. Like the bread I've been making our yoghourt for a couple of years now. It is super simple, the most common yoghourt machine out there is the Easi-Yo, but I have the Moulinex which unfortunately isn't being imported to Australia anymore. This isn't that much of a drama though, as during the last couple of years I've found out that you can make it in the oven on a very low temperature. The Moulinex is just a glorified hot-plate with a sealed lid to trap the moisture so those little bacteria suckers grow.

All you need is 1litre of milk, boiled or I just use UHT milk;
1/2 cup of milk powder and some yoghourt to start.
Just buy a plain yoghourt with no added sugar etc for your first batch, and then use some of the previous batch for the next and so on.
You will need to replace the "starter" every now and then. Whisk it all together and pour into jar. Easi-Yo make a powder that you just add water to, but it's quite gelatinous and didn't really appeal to us. My machine allows me to set a time, I usually set it for 9 hours.

Here they are just growin' away.....
And the result.......a European style tub set, thick creamy yoghourt.......yum



How does it taste you ask? Well like yoghourt use to in the 70s when I was a kid. I hated yoghourt then, because I have a sweet palate and then all the different varieties came about with lots of added sugars and stuff and I began to eat yoghourt again, but was it really yoghourt? Next time you're at the supermarket check out the length of the yoghourt section, it's nuts.

I use our yoghourt in cooking, baking etc and we buy the Easi-Yo fruit squeeze, add fruit or whatever to eat it straight. And to appeal to the TA in me, I make 1 litre for $1.20!