Faffa's best yoghurt recipe

[faffa_70]

Ingredients

2 Litres Milk (Full fat, Hilo, Skim – what ever you choose)
1/8 teaspoon of yoghurt starter (see notes below)

Method

Place milk into TMX bowl and cook for 20min at 80 degrees and speed 2-3.

Cool milk to below 37 degrees (see notes below) Be warned this can take quite a while...and you will have a late night if you start this process too late after dinner.  Also make sure you take the jug out of the cradle while you are waiting for it to cool as the cradle insulates the bowl!!  

Once milk is cooled add your starter and mix in on speed 4 for approx. 10 seconds.  Then cook for 20 mins at 37 degrees and speed 2-3.

Pour into your Thermoserver (see notes below) and leave TOTALLY UNDISTURBED for 5 or more hours (over night or longer is even better) If you disturb, move or knock your yoghurt it will not set – THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!!!

NOTES

MILK -  Hilo and skim milk seem to give a tangier taste than full cream milk, though they all have worked as equally well for me.

Yoghurt Starter -  I use the thick one . If you buy the sterile bottle as well and keep it in the freezer it will keep for 12 months. There is enough to turn 250 litres of milk into yoghurt in this little pack!!

One tip though is to make sure you order it on a Monday. I made the mistake of ordering it on a Thursday. Cheeselinks are fabulous in the fact that they send it out express post the next day with it's own little freezer block etc  ...but mine sat in transit all over the weekend as express post to me is always at least 2 days so I didn't get it until the Tuesday.

The starter was fine as it was the middle of winter, but I did learn from that - especially noted for the summer so thought I would share  

TEMP & LIGHT ILLUMINATIONS - Just clarifying all this for you, when the light is illuminated at 37 it can be between 37 and 49 degrees as the next light illuminates at 50 degrees. When the TMX is set to cook at 37 or 50 or whatever it will heat to that temp and hold it. When you are measuring the heat that is in the bowl (by placing the bowl back in the cradle and the heat registering) it has registered that it is hotter than 37 degrees (so it is lit up) but not 50 degrees so it isn't lit (same works for all temps).

This is why you need to make sure the 37 light isn't on - to ensure it is cooler than 37.

SETTING YOUR YOGHURT - In the warmer months, I just put it in the Thermoserver (using both the lid and the base plate) and leave it on the bench or if I am not sure that fingers can't stay out of it I put it in my Microwave with a big sign on it "YOGHURT do not disturb" lol  

When it is just getting the cooler nights, I put some boiling water in my Thermoserver to heat it up for about 5 minutes, then tip it out just before pouring the yoghurt into it.

When it is really cold I preheat my oven to about 50 then turn it off when I start the second cook and put the Thermoserver in there to set.  In my old oven I could leave the light on without the fan to help keep a little warmth in there, but my new oven the fan comes on with the light   It still works with out the light though   You can also use the boiling water method before you place it in the oven too if you live in a really cold place 

[judydawn]

Because the other yoghurt thread was getting so long I have moved this latest up to date thread from Kathryn to a thread of it's own.  If you want to read the 9 pages of the other recipe, you will find it here.

[Amy :-)]

Hey faffa,
Do any stores stock yoghurt starter or do I have to order it through this Cheeselinks place?

[faffa_70]

Amy I have never seen it in stores, wouldn't even know where to direct you to start looking!!! I do know that you certainly wouldn't find it in s supermarket  I think I found it by googling as I was sick of the kids eating ALL the yoghurt and not leaving any for a starter 

[faffa_70]

alright doing some more googling for you will have some links in a minute - if you have a good health shop you might be in luck, will add the link for the product

There are more options here and also here also here and the one I think you might be able to get in a health food shop is here

I haven't looked at the cost of them or if they ake the thick or thin yoghurts etc, just added in the links for you 

[Amy :-)]

Thanks so much faffa

I will check them all out and let you know how I go. We only have 3 small health food stores in my town, but fingers crossed one of them might have something

[faffa_70]

if they don't stock it they may do a special order it for you Amy 

[fundj&e]

thanks faffa for the update 

faffa do you transfer all of the starter into the  sterile bottles?

anyone in syd that would like 2 go 1/2 me with if order the yoghurt starter from Cheeselinks

[faffa_70]

Uni the starter equates to about a tablespoon  it's freeze dried and you only need a couple of granules (or 1/10 to 1/8 of a teaspoon) so I only use one bottle and buy a new one each time I buy a new starter

[Halex]

Faffa, thanks for the updated version.

I havent made yogurt for a while. I was using a good natural yogurt as my starter then removing some of the first batch of yogurt as my next starter.

Is buyng the starter pack a better option?

H

[faffa_70]

Halley it's a personal choice, this recipe works well with a natural starter as well (just stick to the times and temps as that is where I have my success)

I use a starter as my kids just keep eating all the yoghurt and not leaving some for a starter. Not so bad when you have younger kids and you are sort of in control of the food but obviously having the older ones that fend for themselves  and the fact that they can eat 2kg between the 3 of them in one sitting doesn't help  

[fundj&e]

  couple of granules 

[Amy :-)]

Halley it's a personal choice, this recipe works well with a natural starter as well (just stick to the times and temps as that is where I have my success)

So when you say natural starter, do you mean just natural yoghurt that you can buy in C or W?
If so, would that be a cheaper option?

[dede]

Just a plain natural yogurt that is potset works well Amy, like Jalna brand

[meganjane]

Thanks so much for that Faffa.

I've just bought some starter from Everten Online

Seemed a bit expensive, but I thought it would be handy to have all the bits dedicated just to yoghurt, so no contamination.

Forgot about cheese links! I still have all my starters from when I did the cheese course a couple of years ago, safely in fridge or freezer.  I really must make some more Camembert. It was simply divine.