I must admit we don’t eat too much yogurt, but do enjoy it occasionally. I recently made some toasted muesli and we have been having yogurt and muesli for breaky instead of our usual eggs. Labneh is delicious in dips, or just by itself with some carrot sticks.
I do keep a small vial of yogurt culture in the freezer so that when I make yogurt and labneh, I can control the flavour and texture. You can use a couple of tablespoons of leftover store bought yogurt, but the more times you use it to make the next batch, the more and more different the yogurt will taste until it becomes very “different” and may end up in the bin. So for the sake of the smallest vial that is relatively cheap, I choose to use the culture. You can purchase the culture from any good home brewing shop that also caters to cheesemakers, or online.
Using powdered milk seems to result in a slightly more runny yogurt, but its fine.
I use a yogurt container that insulates the 1L jar I have (see image below). I was gifted this from my late Mum and its a circa 1970s model that works brilliantly. Other yogurt makers call for hot water to keep the yogurt warm while it incubates, and there are also electric yogurt makers that do a lot of the work for you.
Yogurt
You will need:
- 1L milk (fresh or powdered, homogenised or unhomogenised)
- 1 Pinch or 1/10th teaspoon yogurt starter culture, or 2 tablespoons of natural yogurt
- 2 tablespoons milk powder
- Saucepan
- Yogurt maker and associated container
- Sterilisation tools/solution
Sterilise your yogurt container and set aside
For fresh milk: Put 1L of milk in your saucepan, and heat up to about 90-92 degrees Celsius being careful not to boil it over. This kills any unwanted bacteria in the milk that could multiply during the incubation process and make the yogurt taste gross.
Add 2 heaped tablespoons powdered milk to your yogurt maker container.
Once the milk is heated, take the saucepan off the heat and wait a few minutes before pouring it into your yogurt maker jar and stirring to dissolve the milk powder.
Monitor the temperature of the milk. Once it drops to 32 – 34 degrees celsius, add your starter culture or yogurt.
Place the lid on the jar and put it in your yogurt maker.
Depending on your taste, the yogurt is ready between 12 and 24 hours later.
The yogurt should have that lovely slightly sour yogurt smell, and be the expected creamy consistency of store bought yogurt.
Labne
I love eating labne with carrot sticks. Its moreish.
Super easy.
You will need
- The yogurt you just made (see above) or 1L of store bought yogurt
- Colander lined with cheesecloth
- Container for storing in fridge
Pour your 1L of yogurt into the cheesecloth lined colander
Let it settle in for 5 minutes.
Gather the 4 corners of the cheese cloth and tie together in such a way that you can hang the yogurt to drain.
I use a spoon over a container, and pop this in the fridge to drain off for 24 hours or until the labne is thick and creamy to your likeness.
And thats it! Yogurt with some whey removed.
Use it as a dip, in dips, as a side to shakshuka with some dukka sprinkles, or wherever you might use a dollop of yogurt.
