So I’ve got my milk and starter yoghurt in the oven @ 39 Celcius. 5 hours to go before I can take it out.
I used a thick yoghurt without additives as the starter. I was lucky to find any - it’s amazing how many yoghurts have added cream or (even more popular) condensed milk. The milk was regular full fat milk (actually 44g / liter, which is almost 10 grams more than most “full fat” milks over here).
Tomorrow, when it’s chilled I should be able to get my first taste. Wish me luck!
Experiment 1 (making sourdough starter) is on day 4 but not really showing all that much activity, but it’s starting to smell a little sour.
You’re going to love it - it’s ridiculously easy and delicious. You don’t have to be so picky about your starter yogurt, though. Just so long as it has active cultures.
Sourdough starter can take a bit of work if you’re just using the yeasts present in the flour itself (where most of the yeasts actually are when you’re trying to “capture wild yeasts from the air.”) Using a rye flour starter and then adding in wheat flour once you have a decent fermentation going is easier than using a wheat flour starter. Rye just ferments easier or perhaps just has more microorganisms on it than the typical wheat flour.
Easiest still is just to order a starter. I’ve done the true from-scratch wild starters , but none of them have ever tasted as good as an established starter.
Thanks for the tips. I’m going to let this batch try for a couple of days more and see what’s going to happen. I’m feeding it once a day and it’s definitely smelling sour right now (and a bit “cheesy”, I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not), but it’s not gaining any volume just yet. Just a little bit of “foam” on top of the liquid. I added a bit more flour and water just now (about 8 hours after the last feeding) just to see if that will speed things up a bit.
Well, the yoghurt turned out very nice. A lovely creamy and smooth taste. It’s a bit thinner than I was aiming for, but still very good. I’m sure I should have made 2 pots instead of one, because it’s not going to last very long
