Yoghurt takes 6-12 hours to set, so I find making it overnight is ideal. The yoghurt in this photo took 12 hours (or I went to bed and didn’t look at it for 12 hours), and was not made with any milk powder.

I make yoghurt to fill a 1 litre Jalna yoghurt container.

Yoghurt relies on retaining 2 tablespoons of live culture from some other source of yoghurt. (You can probably also purchase live cutlure, but I don’t because I am Dutch!).

You can recycle the use of your own yoghurt culture to make new yoghurt about 5 times. After that, it is best to renew the source of the live culture.

This yoghurt has the same shelf life as normal yoghurt.

Ingredients

• 1 litre milk
• 1/3 cup milk powder (optional). Use this if you want your yoghurt to be thicker
• 2 tablespoons of yoghurt with live culture

Tools you will need

• Sterilised yoghurt container (boil a yoghurt container and lid for 15 mins to sterilise)
• A thermometer
• Medium sized saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• An esky or oven that can set the yoghurt at a controlled temperature

What to do

1. Add milk powder to milk (if you wish to make thick yoghurt)
2. Heat the milk to 85 degrees C
3. If a skin forms on the milk – remove it
4. Sterilise the yoghurt container
5. Prepare your esky (or roasting dish if you are using an oven) by filling with hot water to preheat. Let it drop to 50 degrees C
6. Remove the milk from the heat and pour into the yoghurt container
7. Place the yoghurt container in the sink with some cool water to cool
8. Allow to cool to 50 degrees C. Note: This is really important – ensure you don’t add your culture until the milk temperature is right
9. Add the active live yoghurt
10. Place into the esky or oven dish and ensure the environment is kept at no lower than 37 degrees C or no higher than 55 degrees C
11. Leave for at least 6-12 hours until set
12. Refrigerate and enjoy!