homemade yoghurt

Our family has never been one of the extreme homemaking kind. Surely, and thankfully, we have never eaten much prepared foods and eating out has been somewhat of a rarer thing. (Eating out is not a thing in our culture like it is in the States.) Cakes would occasionally be baked, and there were a few years of making ice cream with our ice cream maker. However, there also were the canned pasta sauces and pre-made meatballs because corners needed to be cut. With two busy parents, there wasn't time to bake bread or make everything from scratch. Nonetheless, we were always served homey and healthy meals, even though there was the occasional shortcut or two.

What started, I believe, as a part of expanding my views, I now rather enjoy the process of making things myself. It is the discovering through the processes that keeps me hooked, and what makes it worth the time and effort put into the making. When baking something, there is always a little freedom to adapt the recipe to my taste. Brown sugar instead of white, a hefty dash of cinnamon, rolled oats sprinkled on top, fresh herbs kneaded into the dough. Whether sweet or savoury, there is room for adaptation. When cooking something, there is rather much freedom, to add and to omit. Don't like something? Leave it out. Love something? Try adding it.

There have been loaves of bread kneaded, bowls of cake and muffin batter stirred, big batches of granola baked. All this to experiment, to explore, to discover.

Making yoghurt is something more than just experimenting, though. It is a step deeper into the paths of homemade things. To me, it has always been one of the extremes, like pasta, what with all the yoghurt makers and right temperatures. Then I found Jamie Oliver's recipe for homemade yoghurt and gave it a try. As it turns out, making yoghurt is much easier than I would have thoughts.

Discovering, is what all this making at home is about.

Homemade Yoghurt
from The Naked Chef Takes Off

1 litre whole milk
200 ml plain yoghurt (with active cultures)

In a thick-bottomed pot, heat the milk until boiling, stirring all the time. Turn off the heat and let the milk cool until it is lukewarm, about 40 minutes. Whisk in the yoghurt, cover, and leave to room temperature for about 8 hours. The yoghurt you use as the base will affect the consistency, as different yoghurts react a little differently.

Refrigerate in an airtight container. The yoghurt will keep for about a week.