An idiots guide to yoghurt making

I did it - I made yoghurt! And it was pretty good too. It was so cheap and easy, I don't know why we don't all do it. Perhaps because we've forgotten how. So, I'm going to teach you all. I'm not going to give you a recipe. Instead, I'm going to teach you the science so you can play around and work out your own method that suits you.

First, you need milk. The milk needs to be free of any bad bacteria that could interfere with the reaction. To achieve this you have two options:

1. Take a litre of milk from the fridge and heat it to almost boiling point (just as it starts to bubble), then let it cool to below 46C (any hotter and your yoghurt culture will die when mixed in.)
2. Cheat and use a carton of UHT milk (you'll probably need to mix in half a cup of milk powder as a thickener.)

Next, you'll need 2-3 tablespoons of live bio yoghurt. To begin with, you'll need to buy a pot, but once you've started making your own, just save a couple of spoonfuls from your most recent batch.

Mix the yoghurt with a litre of milk and then it's time for the magic. To make the magic happen your mixture needs to be kept at a constant temperature of 43-46C (110-115F) for around 8-10 hours. There are many ways to do this - in your oven, a slow cooker, using heat mats. I use an easiyo yoghurt maker for mine which is basically a glorified thermos flask. The longer you leave your mixture at this temperature, the thicker and tangier it will be.

Once your yoghurt has thickened, take it out of the heat and cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours before eating. To make it thicker you can either add milk powder to the mixture or drain it through a muslin or cheesecloth at the end. If you put yoghurt in a cheesecloth and let it hang to drain for a whole day, you'll end up with cream cheese! And it's worth catching the liquid that drains out of it (whey) as it can be saved and used for other recipes such as probiotic lemonade.

So, there it is - a magical method for making a never ending supply of yoghurt. Enjoy!