Yogurt DIY, Part One

My goal this weekend was to make a different pancake recipe and to make yogurt in my new yogurt maker for the very first time.

I forgot to take photos (there may have been bacon involved) but the pancakes turned out...okay. They use buckwheat and rice flour which seems like a nice texture and looks more like "real" pancakes. (The last time I made my teff pancakes, I did something wrong and they were what Mick affectionately now calls hockey pucks.) I substituted applesauce for the banana. But the recipe was for blueberry pancakes and those seemed to have trouble cooking through and also they kept sticking. When I didn't add the blueberries, they came out better but they didn't taste as good. I think the recipe needs granulated sugar in it for texture. Or maybe the applesauce was not a good substitute. I'm not sure yet if I'll play with it or start with another.

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The yogurt seems time consuming so I was worried about this being unrealistic this weekend.

I also was worried that my yogurt starter had arrived by mail when it was still too warm out so I'm not sure it's "active."

I started by reading several recipes I had saved. I decided to try this version. Well, it's not so simple as it sounds. Or maybe I got it mixed up with other versions.

First, you have to cook the milk, but only to a certain temperature so you have to keep checking it. Then you have to cool the milk, but only to a certain temperature so you have to keep checking it. Then you add some stuff to it and put it in the jars. Except I got confused and added all the stuff to it instead of some of the stuff; the gelatin doesn't go in until after the next step. Since I added the gelatin, I had to strain it again to remove the gelatin lumps.

The next step is to let it warm in this device for 10-12 hours without disturbing it.

So I can't find the manual and I can't figure out how to turn it on. Grrr, mumble, curse. It has a timer except that it blinks "HR" while it's on so it seems like it's not. Then if you get it to stop blinking, it's off. But we finally got it going. Yes, I did make Mick help me. I was getting really frustrated. I even looked for a manual or instructions online and everything/everyone just says "set the timer." Jerks.

And then I waited. All day. Stayed up late waiting. Here's the finished product. I don't think it's supposed to look like that.



It's done. Or is it.

So the verdict? Yeah, that totally did not work. It's basically coconut milk. I just spent an entire day cooking coconut milk to use it as coconut milk. Bugger.