Homemade yogurt without a yogurt maker

Finally!!! I have been wanting to make my own homemade yogurt for, I would say, more than a year? Phew. Yeah that long! I thought it was too difficult and that I needed a special yogurt maker and so on. The result was, I did not even try. The good news is, it is not difficult at all, quite the contrary, it is easy-peasy :)

I have noticed recently that I tend to cook at night. I am not exactly sure why. I can see several advantages though. First, I like the quiet all around. It is just me and sounds of cooking or baking. Secondly, I like the freshly baked cake or bread in the morning. Thirdly, with the winter coming slowly and days shortening day by day, I have more time to photograph my produce! And lastly, I do not know, I just like it. Well, it was about 10pm again, when I decided I would make a homemade yogurt.

I told my boyfriend: "I am going to make a homemade yogurt!". "Now?", he asked. "Yes, now. It is easy-peasy!".

I went to our kitchen and only a few minutes later my boyfriend appeared. "So, how do you do that? How do you make the yogurt?", he asked.

"Well, that is it", I pointed to a pot of hot milk. "I just heat the milk, add the yogurt, and in the morning, yogurt is ready!".

And that was it! I woke up in the morning and ran straight to a radiator where the yogurt was sleeping and maturing. I was excited like a child before Christmas! I still kind of did not believe that the milk, I just heated and mixed with a couple of spoons of yogurt, would turn into a yogurt overnight. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue without a cloud which is very rare these days in London. I felt happy! :)

I put the yogurt in the refrigerator and let it get cold. After 3 hours, I could not wait any longer. The taste of the yogurt was delicious. Very smooth and not that sour as some yogurts might be. I ate it straight from the jar. Later that day I just mixed the yogurt with mango and shredded coconut to make a delicious snack.

Homemade yogurt

Ingredients

1000ml whole milk

5 tbsp plain yogurt with active cultures (I used greek yogurt)

1 In a saucepan, heat the milk over low heat. Remove the saucepan from heat just before it starts boiling (82-85ºC).

2 Let the milk cool down until you can keep your finger in there (42-43ºC).

3 Add the yogurt to the milk and stir well. Pour the milk into carefully washed jars and close with lids.

4 Set all jars in a warm place for about 8 hours or overnight until thickened. I placed jars on a warm radiator covered in kitchen towel to make sure they would keep warm. (The yogurt bacteria need temperature around 43ºC to grow.)

5 Refrigerate the yogurt for about 3-4 hours before eating.