Valerie's Yoghurt & Yoghurt Cheese

[cathy79]

This yogurt is fantastic and deserves it's own thread so people can find it, as it was hidden under "garlic peeling".

EDITED TO CHANGE - Helen very kindly pointed out that the original website had been moved, so here is the new website.  Thanks Helen

http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2009/2883/how-to-make-yogurt-thermomix.html

Make sure you watch the video as it really helps.  But here is the basic recipe.

Place 2 litres of milk into  and cook for 20min 80deg speed 2-3.
Cool milk to 37deg.  This can take a while.  I find it cools quicker if I pour it into another jug and then back into  every 30mins or so to test the temperature.  There are lots of variables for how long this step will take.
Once milk has cooled add 1/4 cup yoghurt to milk.  The yoghurt must be a plain, pot set style yoghurt.  Mix yoghurt in to milk.
Cook for 20min 37deg speed 2-3.
Pour into thermoserver (fits perfectly) and leave for 5 hours.  Voila!

Make sure you take 1/4 cup yoghurt into a little separate container in the fridge where no one else will find it.  Otherwise it will all disappear and you'll have to buy a whole tub of yoghurt to start over.

[CarolineW]

I was going to post about this in the 'yogurt' thread, but here's a good place for it too    I'll do the rest of my post there still, but here let me say that I've made the yogurt this way 4 times now, and it's brilliant.  My DH and DD are very excited about it, having been lukewarm at best at my other efforts.  I have made 1 lt batches up until now for eating, as that's about the right amount for us to keep it fresh.  At the moment I have a 2 lt batch in the thermoserver, which I plan to make into the cheese.

I'm going to do this batch as yogurt cheese, as she suggests, and marinade the balls like in the video.  Next week I hope to do another batch and make paneer out of it, like in the UK Indian cooking book.  I also plan to do a fruit yogurt batch tomorrow or Monday, to see how that compares to just stirring the fruit / jam / etc in to the natural yogurt.

The one comment which I will make here (and in more detail on the yogurt thread) is that you need to be careful which yogurt you use as a starter to begin with.  Time was that you could use any live yogurt, but now most have been carefully designed by the manufacturers to not be usable as starters for homemade yogurt so that you need to keep buying it from them.  So my advice is get a starter from someone else, find out which ones available in your country work as starters, or order a starter online.  After that it's really, really easy to make your own yogurt.

[cathy79]

Starters are important - I used Brooklea Natural Tub Set Yoghurt, available from Aldi.  It's actually a "fat free", which shows I didn't read it as closely as I should have, but it works.

Ingredients - skim milk, nonfat milk solids, live cultures ABC.

[judydawn]

Just found this thread CB79 and had posted some questions in another Now all my queries have been answered, thanks indeed.  Now all I have to do is find a good starter - would a health store be a good place to start do you think. No Aldi here in Sth Aust.

[cathy79]

Judy, the health food store will definitely be able to help you.  But you should be able to get one from Coles or Woolies etc, unless you specifically want organic.  Look for something that mentions "pot set", and check that the ingredients is a really, really short list like the one I mentioned.  No fruit, honey, sweetners etc.

There is one that is advertised regularly on TV - I think the brand might be Jalna, or something like that.

[JulieO]

Judy, here's a link, Cathy's right, you'll find this one in supermarkets.

http://www.jalna.com.au/truly-natural/taste-the-pot-set-difference.html

[cathy79]

Yep, that's the one I was thinking of.  Should work a treat!

[judydawn]

Thanks Cathy & Julie.  I'm actually going out for the first time next Tuesday with Mum to a shopping centre, being dropped off and picked up a few hours later so I have it on my list to get.  I am quite excited about making it and have spend the whole morning researching recipes to make with yoghurt cheese too.  Have come up with lots of things to try and eventually post but enough to keep me going all summer I would think.  Oh, the things you do when you can't do anything else and are home alone  One more question, Valerie uses full cream milk - has anyone tried it with skim milk or wouldn't this work?

[Thermomixer]

Thanks CB79 - think I have transferred 3 or 4 yoghurt recipes to this thread.  Maybe we should have a yoghurt thread.

[cathy79]

Wouldn't hurt!

[CarolineW]

In that case, I'll put my 'further yogurt comments' on this thread 

In the UK, effective starter yogurts that my research has found are:

the Greek yogurt, Total

The basic probiotic Lidl yogurts (come in packs of 4, green & blue on packaging)

St Helen's Farm Goats Milk Yogurt (the one with the white goat looking out of a blue circle).  This is the one I'm using, and it's producing thick, excellent yogurt - better even than Easy Yo.  My DH and DD love it, because of its mild flavour.  I love it with jam, etc, as a flavoured yogurt, but would ideally like a bit more tang in my natural yogurt.  I don't plan to change, though, because the rest of my family prefer the milder flavour (like Easy Yo).

A highly recommended starter (which I haven't found yet) is organic Sheeps Milk Live Yoghurt 450g . Made by Woodlands.  Apparently available in Sainsburies, Waitrose some Tesco's and many small shops (but not in our local Sainsburies).

There are starters which work listed for different countries here http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/beginners_guide/yoghurt/yog_starters.htm .  The server is busy just at the moment, or I'd also list them here.  It was fine when I visited it for advice earlier this month, though, so presumably it's temporary.

Hope this is helpful.

Also, remember that it doesn't need to be a thermoserver which is used to make the yogurt.  A wide mouthed thermos, Easy Yo thermos (without the water), and the Thermomix jug left overnight all work perfectly (I've used all of these methods)

Apparently heating the yogurt 'mix' to 50oC (rather than 37o as I'm doing with Valerie's method), pouring it into a container and wrapping it in a blanket or towel overnight also works fine, but I haven't tried that personally.

I made the yogurt cheese for the first time overnight, by the way.  It's lovely.

[Thermomixer]

Caroline, why no water in the Easy-yo thermos?

[CarolineW]

Because the hot water in the Easy Yo is to bring the cold water with the yogurt mix upto 37oC.  But the yogurt going in from the TMX is already at 37oC.  So it would make it too hot.

[Thermomixer]

Ta - maybe some 50 degrees water ?  Half boiling and half cold?  to keep it warm?

[CarolineW]

That would probably work.  But it seems to keep the contents at the right temperature anyway.  Perhaps I'll try both ways and see if one is better than the other ...