Daring Cooks’ July 2013 Challenge - Overdue Yoghurt!

Inexcusably late again but life is busy and my wrists are slightly wrecked at the moment from some really long hours at work, so I was trying to have a bit less evening laptop time. That, combined with my enthusiasm in making this challenge at the start of the month, resulted in me forgetting to post it on the 14th. So I shall drag out the old 'better late than never' adage yet again and hope it's still valid!

So on to the challenge...

The lovely Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler was our July Daring Cooks' hostess and she asked us to create homemade yoghurt in our own kitchens! No incubators needed, no expensive equipment or ingredients, just a few items and we had delicious yoghurt for a fraction of the cost and a whole lot healthier than what you buy in the stores!

There was a very good reason that I was so excited about this post. I've not had proper yoghurt in over two and a half years, since it's pretty much 100% unadulterated dairy. Actually that's not true - loads of yoghurts in the shops are seriously messed about with, with a whole bunch of thickeners and sweeteners and junk added to make them low fat thus and "healthier" but I shall not get onto that soapbox right now!

The reason I was so enthused by this challenge is that it was a change to have some proper yoghurt again. I cut dairy out of my diet over 2.5 yrs ago to help deal with Mini-M's intolerance when she was tiny. I've spent the past 1.5 yrs periodically trying to re-introduce it to my diet with fairly limited (aka no) success - until recently that is. I had seen an advert for A2 milk in a magazine and scorned it as another silly celebrity endorsed fad for folk that wanted to pretend to have a food intolerance. It is a milk that doesn't have one of the milk proteins that some people can't tolerate. But I'm also happy to clutch at whatever straws maybe graspable, so when I saw it in the supermarket a few months ago, I bought a carton. Said carton sat in the fridge, I was too scared to try it in case it made me ill, and eventually Mr E used it up. So I gave myself a talking to, bought another carton and gave it a shot - just a tsp at a time first of all, after I had boiled it, but fairly son I realised I could have a big swig, unboiled, with no ill effects.

Hence my excitement over the yoghurt challenge - I could make 'proper' tangy yoghurt with A2 milk - and it worked :-) !

I used a 1/4 cup plain active soya yoghurt as my starter culture which worked perfectly, and lo and behold...

Will it have worked, won't it have worked, Schrodinger's yoghurt pot...

Yoghurt!

It worked!!!!! Woop - and it tasted lovely.
I followed the instructions in the challenge recipe, and wrapped the jars in tea towels and put them in the oven that was cooling down after cooking dinner, and left them overnight, then stuck them in the fridge in the morning before I went to work. I added a tbsp of honey to sweeten.

As well as just eating it plain, or with some blueberry jam mixed in with a piece of toast to dunk, I used some to make yoghurt scones - which also turned out beautifully.

Glazed with yoghurt

Risen and golden