How To Make Yoghurt Without A Yoghurt Maker

I must thank Pei Sze for this tips because I've been contemplating whether to get a yoghurt maker which would have cost me approximately RM80. I feel that this is really neat because I didn't even need a thermometer and it's so easy to make, so I wanted to share this here.

Ingredients:

1. Dutch Lady Fresh Milk (any fresh milk will do)

2. Plain yoghurt from the supermarket as the starter

Method:

1. I used the jam container (preferrably glass) to estimate how much milk is needed.

2. Pour the required amount of milk into a saucepan and heat it up for it to ferment. I waited until I saw bubbles, then I stir it and leave it to cool down until it's just warm (estimated to be as warm as when we warm up our EBM). If you want to expediate the cooling process, you could also pour the milk into the jam container and immerse the bottle in a bowl of cold water (the reverse way of warming up the EBM).

3. When the milk is warm enough (not too hot and not too cold), transfer it into the jam container (if you haven't done this in step 2 above), and add ~2 tbs of the plain yoghurt as the starter into the milk (the amount of yoghurt to add depends on the size of your container). Seal the container with the lid.

4. Place the jam container into a thermos-like container (Pei Sze uses cooler box filled with warm water, while I use my thermal cooker filled with warm water) for ~6hours. Don't shake or disturb it during the 6 hours' period because it could disturb the incubation process.

Note:
The container must be able to maintain the temperature at ~37 degree Celcius or our body temperature for at least 6 hours.

I think the information below would be useful before you start making your own homemade yoghurt:

General idea on how yoghurt is made:

Technically, yoghurt can be made from any sort of milk – cow, goat or ewe – but it must be fermented before it can be called yoghurt.

A small starter culture of the bacteria is added to fresh, warmed skimmed or whole milk and then the mixture needs to be kept at about 37 degrees Celsius for about 12 hours.

The bacteria multiply in the warm conditions, feeding on the sugars in the milk. They ferment lactose, the disaccharide sugar in milk, producing lactic acid. This causes the milk to curdle, forming curds and whey. The curds are the yoghurt and the whey is the watery fluid that is poured off, leaving a rich, creamy thick yoghurt.


Great tips that I find helpful:
1. If after 6 hours, you find that the yoghurt still hasn't really formed yet (still in liquid form), you can actually wait longer (leave it overnight or another 6 hours). Maybe the 'live' culture needs more time to grow.

2. Also, if you want to add fruit flavours to it, especially from fresh fruits, you need to add this after the yoghurt has incubated. That's because the acid content of some fruits can curdle the milk-yoghurt mixture and prevent proper fermentation.

I find this process rather easy even for busy moms, and I've been blending them with fresh mango and even dragon fruits for my kids. They loved it! If you want it instant, that is without the fuss of blending the fruits, Pei Sze shared that it could be eaten straight with any jam directly! I was rather surprised, but when I tried this with the blueberry jam, it tasted really great! Even SY loves it!

Here's the finished product from my 2nd attempt - my pictures are rather blurry because I took them with my PDA phone (my first attempt was not succesful because I added the yoghurt culture when the milk was still rather hot).

My finished product with my thermal cooker

Yes, indeed yoghurt has many health benefits, among some which include improved immune system and also suitable for those who has lactose intolerance. So, besides being cheaper than buying them directly off the shelf, this easy home-made yoghurt also has less sugar content and no preservatives - most suitable for kids!