Neither doe they [sc. the Turks] eate much Milke, except it bee made sower, which they call Yoghurd. (Samual Puchas, 1601)

First on my list of projects was sourdough bread, although since it took a while to produce the sourdough culture what I made first was yoghurt...

Like the Turks, I don't really eat much milk, but I do really like yoghurt. Here in Germany it seems to be almost impossible to find Greek yoghurt, something I grew up with by spending too much time on archaeological digs, and which I really miss. Since most German yoghurt has thickeners in it, I couldn't just buy yoghurt and strain it. This led me to explore making my own, using a recipe that I found here.

Unfortunately, when I first tried it, I didn't realize how warm the milk has to stay (ok, so I wasn't really paying attention) and it didn't yogh. Undeterred, I reboiled the milk, added some more yoghurt, and tried to keep it warmer. After discovering that my plastic bowl really could go in the oven at a low temperature (thank you IKEA) I stuck it in the oven at 50C for a few hours, and then left it overnight with the heat turned off. Lo and behold, the next morning I had yoghurt! I strained it through a jelly bag and it was good, despite the monstrous effort required to produce it.

Excited by my (eventual) success, I made it a second time. Again, I used the trick with the oven, and hurrah, it worked! I strained this batch for a long time, until it was so thick that you could cut it in slices, the way proper yoghurt is supposed to be. I had created yoghurt, and it was good.