Homemade Plain, Chocolate Yogurt and more

I kept seeing posts about people being successful in making their own yogurt at home. I'm super envious of course, wondering how did they do it, don't they need some special equipment or cultivate / grow some active culture? Then I saw someone posted on FB that they merely heat up the milk, add some yogurt (which already contains the active culture), let it sit at room temp for 4 hours, chill overnight and voila! I was totally wide eyed and excited! Being a huge yogurt consumer...ahem, like 1 litre in 2 days sometimes. :P This could mean money in the pocket! Plus what can be better then homemade with no preservatives?

So I did some reading and also found fellow bloggers like Grace from KitchenCorner whom also did her version. And finally settled with David LeBovitz's recipe. His recipe seems easy enough (actually all the recipes are relatively easy lah) and requires reasonable waiting time. But again I made the necessary changes to suit my own needs. 

Check it out! I am so not gonna get store bought yogurt again. This is seriously easy please. And the result is really applaudable ! It is silky and smooth and totally better then what I expected. But please don't ask me why it is sour, yogurt is sour. So if you have never tasted plain yogurt before, please go ahead and buy one at the grocery first. :P Plus this is sugar free, so it is way healthier. By all means, you can add honey and syrup or chocolate sauce to your yogurt after it is made...but that is how plain yogurt should be. ;) Ahem...I like (more like love) with Peanut butter. :X

Ingredients for Plain Yogurt (makes 2 jar of 350 ml)

700 ml fresh whole milk

50 ml plain yogurt of your favourite brand

2 glass jars with lids (you can find them in Daiso)

A candy thermometer would be helpful

• Heat up a pot of water and pour over the glass jars to sterilise. Dry and cool them on kitchen towels.

• Next weigh out the milk and stick a thermometer in the pot with the milk added to it. Heat the milk till it reaches 80C. Remove from the fire immediately and let cool.

• I placed mine in some ice water and when it reaches 45C, add in the plain yogurt and mix well till well combined.

• Ladle the milk into the cooled jars and cover the lids. 

• Place the filled jars in a warm place up to 8-10 hours. I actually placed mine in a thermal cooker filled with lukewarm water.

• After 8-10 hours, remove the yogurt from the cooker and you will notice it has "solidified". 

• Place the jars in the fridge and let chill overnight or for 4 hours. And you will have yummy healthy homemade yogurt to enjoy!

Happiness is eating your own homemade yummies and this is just now of them. As you can see this is truly easy to make, really no reason why you have to spend money to buy anymore. :)

I even attempted with chocolate milk! The result slightly differs from the plain milk. Definitely less tangy but more soft and almost like a thick milkshake. My kids love the chocolate version though. They can just eat it plain like that or with fruits with no additional sweetener. 

Such a treat though if you add some berries and chocolate biscuit rolls. So yummy! And can you believe this is homemade chocolate yogurt you are feeding your kids? It is way better ice cream if you ask me. ;)

The formula for chocolate version is the same as the plain milk one just that it uses chocolate milk instead. I experimented it twice and it still comes out softer then the plain ones. Anyway, I am gonna try with .....ahem black sesame and peanut butter next time! #OMG Hahaha!

~Updates~
So I went on to experiment more flavours on this homemade yogurt escapade. And frankly speaking I am not done exploring yet! But for now, here are some of the new ones I have done; Milo, Thai Milk Tea and lastly Honey. 

Didn't have a shot of the honey yogurt because I got a little busy and forgotten all about it. :P

Recipe for Milo Yoghurt
700 ml fresh milk
80 g milo powder
- Milo powder is added right after the milk is cooked till 180C. Whisk in well.

Recipe for Thai Milk Tea yogurt
2 tea bags
700 ml fresh milk
- Similarily, let the tea bags sip in the hot milk at 180C, and occasional swirl to get the mixture uniform.

Recipe for Honey Yogurt yogurt
50 ml honey
500 ml fresh milk
- Add the honey right after the milk cooked till 180C. Mix well.

Currently my favourite is still Honey yogurt. Slightly sweetened and still healthy and yummier then plain.

Hope you will give this a try and let me know how yours turn out!

Happy making yogurt!