Homemade Yoghurt without buying endless Sachets

Love love love homemade yoghurt…and oh those delicious supermarket bought sachets, creamy and perfect every time. But you only need to buy one and that’s enough to make endless homemade yoghurt every week.

When wanting to make your own WITHOUT buying more sachets, simply keep the last dollops of cultured yoghurt before finishing off the container to use as your next yoghurt starter. You will make unsweetened natural yoghurt, so you’ll be able to flavour it later should you choose to.

It’s the yoghurt that keeps on giving.

Is any yoghurt OK to use as a starter?

No. You need to look for a yoghurt that has active probiotic ingredients. DIY sachet yoghurts are great as they have bacteria in them that is used as a ‘bug’ or culture, which is activated once water is added. Hansells and Easiyo make dry powder sachets to make 1 litre of yoghurt found in supermarkets nationwide. You can also buy ready-to-eat yoghurts that also contain probiotics so watch for them too.

Buying a yoghurt to use as a starter is so easy. You may wish to purchase starters from a health shop.

What other ingredients do you need?

Full Cream Milk Powder and water, easy. Oh — and flavouring, but you can deal with that later if you wish!

How do you cultivate yoghurt?

To develop, you need all the ingredients and warmth.  You may have experienced this if you have inadvertently left a glass of milk outside for a prolonged period of time over a long hot summer evening….curdled milk!

How to flavour unsweetened natural youghurt?

I personally love it unsweetened, so creamy and perfect. The beauty of making unsweetened yoghurt though is that you can flavour it as you need it meaning that every morning you can have a different flavoured yoghurt, if that’s your thing.

1. Add a spoonful of jam or lemon curd and stir well
2. Add freshly pureed berries or stewed fruit
3. Add honey or maple syrup to taste
4. Add flavour extracts (try 2-3 drops per cup of yoghurt) or adjust to taste.

There are two easy methods however to make your own yoghurt:

Easiyo Thermos Method

Use an Easiyo Thermos. You can pick one up new or buy one very cheaply at your local second hand charity store (they seem to have an endless supply around $5-$8). Be sure to pick up a 1 litre yoghurt container to fit it while you are there at it nestles nicely in middle and is perfect for the measures provided below.

This recipe makes for creamy thick yoghurt.

Ingredients

• 2 cups full cream milk powder
• 3 cups room temperature tap water
• approx. 1/2 cup active yoghurt

Method

1. Measure milk powder into your 1 litre container. Add 2 cups of water then shake vigorously until smooth.
2. Dollop in your active yoghurt. Shake again.
3. Top with the remaining 1 cup of water to fill the container. Shake again.
4. Once your yoghurt mix is ready for cultivating, tip boiling water into the empty Easiyo thermos to the top of the red insert inside, pop in your container of yoghurt mix, then twist on the lid. The heat of the boiling water is enough to heat thermos perfectly.
5. Rest for 8-12 hours, open up the thermos, remove the yoghurt container and discard the cold water now left in the bottom.  Once made, refrigerate the yoghurt to enjoy for days to come.

No-Thermos Yoghurt

Use a container with a lid.  Use the ingredients above but change the method slightly as the heat required to activate this yoghurt is from the milk, not a thermos:

Method

1. Make up the milk powder/water and combine until smooth; then simmer gently on the stove in a saucepan.
2. Remove a few spoonfuls and mix in with your active yoghurt (this tempers the yoghurt), then return both to the simmering pot of milk (now off heat). Mix well.
3. Transfer to a container with a lid, then wrap with several layers of cloth (the thicker the better, such as bath towels) and keep in a warm place overnight. In the morning, you’ll have yoghurt! Once made, refrigerate asap.

Enjoy your freshly homemade yoghurt on your breakfast, in a smoothie or dolloped on your dessert!