Lakeland Multi Yoghurt and Soft Cheese Maker Recipes Included

I 100% recommend this yoghurt maker. So much so, I bought my daughter one too. It is very easy to make your basic yoghurt and Greek yoghurt in this machine. Don't buy this thinking you can make L Reuteri, or other cultured yoghurts in it. You cant. The temp and timings are not right for those. I bought a Luvele yoghurt maker for that. Do not fear. This makes great yoghurt, and can also make a soft cheese, but I haven't attempted that yet. I actually make yoghurt in this 3 times a week, and always find it does a consistent job. Although you don't get much Greek yoghurt by the time you have strained it, you do get the added bonus of the whey. Don't throw it out! There's so many uses for this golden liquid. It's full of proteins and probiotics. You can drink it straight, add it to your smoothies, replace the liquid in your homemade bread with it, use it to start off a new ferment, or even use it diluted to water your plants. So buy this bargain yoghurt maker and enjoy knowing what you're feeding your loved ones.

I've made yogurt in the slow cooker lots of times, it's a bit of a faff and takes up lots of space on the counter, but always tastes lovely. I purchased the Lakeland yogurt maker purely for the small size, and to regain my work top. I'm so glad I did! I made my first batch yesterday and have the best yogurt that I've ever tasted for breakfast this morning. I made Greek yogurt i e. Strained after it's finished in the maker. After 10 hrs straining (over night) It's perfectly smooth, deliciously thick, so thick in fact that I needed to add some whey back into it to be able to get a spoon into it, and has a lovely flavour. Slow cooker yogurt needs to be left a day or two for the flavour to develop, the constant steady heat of the yogurt maker means that the fermentation process is on point and that flavour is there from the beginning. I like my yogurt quite sour, so next time I'll adjust the timings and add an extra hour or two, a great feature of this machine is that you can program it to your own tastes! There are a couple of negatives, none of the components are dishwasher safe so everything must be meticulously washed by hand (cleanliness is vital for yogurt making) and I'd love for it to have a larger capacity, 1.6l of milk yielded only 700g of extra exta thick Greek yogurt, about the ratio I'd expect, but I'd love to make more in one go. The strainer can only hold 1l of yogurt, so I had to strain the rest through tradational cheese cloth. The instructions do state this, but I wanted a larger batch. The strainer itself is very fine though, not a drop of yogurt escaped and is easy to use far easier than messing with cheese cloth! On the whole this is an excellent piece of kit, and I'd definitely purchase it again. Make sure you also purchase a food thermometer (£4-5ish) if you are yogurt making for the first time, you can't make it without one, and that's something that's not stated in the description. Now back to my incredible breakfast!

I find this yogurt maker very easy to use. It's compact and easy to clean and has enough capacity to make a decent amount of yogurt. I've made the Greek yogurt using the strainer too and it was a success. I would definitely say this is a game changer we never run out of yogurt.

As can be seen by the picture the unit was not brand new. However, I had already bought the milk and kefir cultures and was eager to make some yogurt so didn't want the hassle/ delay of returning the item. The actual unit is easy to use, and I made good yogurt on the first day using dried Bulgarian yogurt cultures and left overnight for 12 hours on the default temperature of 42 degrees. Used whole milk, boiled and cooled to 40 degrees. May try with UHT whole milk next time to save boiling and cooling. Also the reason I bought this one is the variable temperature. On the 2nd day I used my existing kefir cultures (not dried) and put it on a setting of 25 degrees (the lowest). Kefir cultures can't withstand such high temperatures so this is ideal. Put on for 6 hours but this was too long, and Kefir separated - so will be trying again with less cultures and less time. The unit comes with two containers - but only one lid, I will be looking to see if they sell spare containers/lids. Still early days but I'm pleased so far.

I bought the previous (original) Lakeland Yoghurt Maker 15 years, or so, ago because it was recommended as one of the few Yoghurt Makers in which it was OK to ferment the yoghurt for 12 hours, which apparently is needed for the bacteria to survive/be of any use in the intestines etc. It was a very simple "on/off" device which always, without fail, produced perfect yoghurt every time. I've long since given up the faffing around of boiling milk, allowing the temperature to drop and then transferring the contents etc. when it's perfectly OK to use U.H.T. milk from cold, as it's already free of bacteria. This results in much less in the way of stuff to have to wash up.. My method: One small pot of Yeo Valley Organic Yoghurt straight in the plastic container and stirring in a litre of U.H.T. Whole Milk. I've never used Semi-Skimmed/Skimmed and ferment for 12 hours. Sadly, a few days ago, my Yoghurt Maker decided to stop working. The light came on, but it didn't get warm and after 12 hours, I ended up with cold milk. So, I decided to buy it again, given that 15 years was a pretty good bargain/bet. It was then that I discovered that Lakeland have updated the design. Having read any number of reviews and watched a few videos, some of which were less than complimentary, I was, to say the least, more than a little trepidatious about buying the "upgrade!" When it arrived, I immediately set to making some yoghurt and followed the instructions (apart from the fact that I used 1 litre of U.H.T. milk straight into the blue container, stirred into a small pot of live yoghurt.) I apprehensively watched and waited for the 12 hours @ 42 degrees. When the time was up, I lifted the lid (no condensation) to discover that it had set perfectly. I was concerned that the plastic pot would be difficult to lift out as it had no handles, unlike the previous model (see pic) but, it lifted out really easily and went straight into the fridge. Luckily the top shelf of my fridge is just low enough for it to fit in. This morning, I tested it with some sliced banana and a handful of blueberries for breakfast and it tasted wonderful, just slightly "tart." The timer is a nice touch, although, like some, I wish there were a "bleep" sound to let you know when it's done. The unit looks great and takes up less room on my kitchen counter than the previous model. Another possible plus may be that it'll be easier to clean than the previous model, as the white lid is less bulky and the pot doesn't contain a recessed ridge, where yoghurt used to get trapped, making it difficult to remove, when washing it up. Regarding the recommendations in the user manual. I can see no reason why they insist that the yoghurt should be used up within 4 days. I've never had any issues with yoghurt keeping in the fridge for well over a week. But, that's up to the individual. Early days, of course, but, first impressions, I'm very impressed with this unit. Whether it (or myself) will last another 15 years, remains to be seen. Time will tell. I'll pop back in a few weeks with an update. But, as things stand, fingers crossed, it appears to be a decent upgrade on the earlier model.

Excellent piece of kit. Makes great yogurt af all types and flavours. My particular favourite is Greek full fat. Works with all types milk. Great value too.

This is more style over substance. It’s a very poor replacement for the original Lakeland yoghurt maker that we’ve used for years. Maybe that’s it – it lasted too long, and wasn’t making much of a profit. Before this, it was 900ml UHT milk and a couple of dessert spoonfuls of Yeo Valley organic natural yoghurt, mixed together with a spoon, left overnight in the gentle heat of the yoghurt maker and in the morning, wake up to a lovely smooth yoghurt. Alas, that machine packed up, so I went online and, after checking ‘Top Picks’ and ‘Best Yoghurt Maker’ reviews, the Lakeland one stood out from the rest. A no brainer I thought. I tried this way and that – using the UHT milk as before, full milk and semi-skimmed milk. None of them looked or tasted like smooth yoghurt, the consistency was very thin and didn’t even look very good. The ingredients were as fresh as you can get. I did notice that a lot of reviews mentioned inconsistency in the temperature, and found that the base of the unit inside was very hot, compared to the gentle heat of original model. Boiling the milk and all that faff was a real pain – guess it’s the ‘health and safety’ attitude that’s so pervasive in today's ‘nanny state’. The instructions state that for the large container (1.8l) 165ml of starter yoghurt is used in 1485ml of milk. That’s equivalent to just over 11 tablespoonfuls, or more than a small shop bought natural yoghurt, which is a ridiculous and excessive amount. The height of the containers is quite impractical too, making it difficult to store in most fridges. This is a very poor replacement to the original model, cheaply made in China. Lakeland are well known for selling quality products, but have let themselves down badly in this case. Have returned it to Amazon for a full refund. Back to shop bought yoghurt in future.

This does take the guesswork out of the process and is capacious and easy to use. The strainer is a piece of magic, it works so well and the results are really great, I was really impressed. Home made fresh yoghurt tastes so much nicer than shop bought, there is no comparison. I made the mistake of putting it away after use and not letting the air get round the insides sufficiently the first time and the next time I used it there were little spots of black mould on the bottom of the container. I was a bit horrified, it hadn't occurred to me that this might happen but now I don't pack it up when I have used it, I leave the containers upside down on a rack till I am ready to use them next time. The slightest bit of dampness inside will cause mould because the lid is so close fitting. But 100% happy to have bought this.

Seen i bought the cheese/yoghurt maker i didn’t buy any yoghurt from the supermarket

So much plastic we sent it back. Even the inner bowl was plastic.