Hi from Québec Canada

[Marion]

Hi,
I started to make my own yoghurt a week ago. So far, I ended up with buttermilk and the second try with a  sort of ricotta like cheese. Both very nice, but not Yoghurt. I still don't know what I did wrong.Looking for answers, I ended up at this forum and I am now looking forward to making my own cheese. I seem to be halfway there already with my  "ricotta"   Does anyone know what I did wrong? I would really like succeed in making yoghurt first.

Marion

[Tea]

Hi Maron and welcome to the forum.
If you could post the recipe and method of what you did, including temps and times, we might be able to trouble shoot.  Also did you use a yoghurt culture as your starter, or actual yoghurt? 
Thanks,
Tracey

[Cheese Head]

Hello fellow canuck. I've been making cheese for most of this year but haven't made yogurt since I was a college student, so can't help you, then again maybe I should start again! Anyway welcome to this forum.

PS: I posted info on an annual cheese event in Quebec here.

[Marion]

hi Tracey , thanks for your reply.
I use plain yoghurt.on the package it says:Priobiotic with active acidophilus, L.casei and bifidus cultures. The recipe told me to heat the milk  and let it simmer a bit. I think I let it simmer for a minute. Then I let it cool down fast in the sink filled with cold water until 40 degrees Celsius. I then put the yoghurt in the milk ,the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons yogurt for 600ml milk. I  put in 4 because I had 750 ml. I then put it in a thermos for a night the first time (8 hours) at 30 degrees Celsius (72 Fahrenheit) as mentioned in the recipe. But got something that looked and tasted like buttermilk. I looked in an other book which said to put it for 10 to 12 hours at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius( about 110 Fahrenheit). So the second time I put the jars in the oven with pilot light but when I checked after an hour, the temperature was 48 degrees I then diminished it to 40 by opening the oven door,but in the bottles was watery and white stuff separated and it never became yogurt.I let it stand for 12 hours at 40 ° C but that didn't help. I hope I gave you enough detail.
My son and husband say that it is just like the first sourdough breads I made ( they were thinking of building a house with them- stone hard- and now they do not want to eat anything else!)So I 'll just keep trying. Thanks for helping out.
Marion

[Tea]

Hi Marion, how long have you been making sour dough bread for?  I started a sour dough starter about 10 years ago, but since my last baby a couple of years ago, I have to admit that I didn't have the time to cook, so I was tossing more starter down the sink than cooking.  Have been thinking that I should start it again, as the kids used to love the chocolate cake that I made with it.  Great to hear that your family also love the sour dough.
Ok back to yoghurt.  With the runny one, I would guess that it probably wasn't cooked at a high enough temp, and the separated one too high and too long.
When using a culture I add a couple of tblsp of milk powder per ltr to give the yoghurt a bit more body, add the culture when the milk has cooled to under 45 c, then maintain temp at 42-43 c for 4-6 hours.  I just put the milk into canning jars, and place them into a stock pot and cover with warm water.  If I need to increase the temp I just turn on the stove the heat gentle until the temps come back into range.  Then I let then cool at room temp for 1 hour, then put in the fridge.
When Mum used to make yoghurt from ready made yoghurt, she used to place the bowl of warm milk into a pre heated oven, which was then turned off, wrap the bowl in a thick warmed towel, and leave in the oven until morning.
Home made yoghurt always has a small separation of whey that will eventually cover the top of the yoghurt, that is quite normal.  To make greek yoghurt, you can hang the yoghurt for a couple or hours to thicken it up.
Not sure if this has answered your questions, so please don't hesitate to ask more if I have missed something.
Hope your next attempt is successful.  I know that it took me a couple a batches before I finally got it right.

[Marion]

Hi Tracey,

Chocolate cake with sourdough, That sounds interesting. I must admit that  I have never tried a sweet recipe with the sourdough. I stick to olives, grains and nuts. Have been making bread for 5 or 6 years now. There's nothing like home made bread (especially if the only alternative is the supermarket) so I continue. A tip to deal with the time problem. I "cheat". I bought a breadmachine that I put on just the preparation of the bread dough. The machine will then knead your dough and rise it. Sourdough needs more time to rise so after the beep I plug the machine out and let it rise some more.Saves lots of time.
Back to the yogurt. Thanks for the tips I am going to give it another try tomorrow. I'll let you know the results.
Marion

[Tea]

Another thing that is used to thicken the yoghurt is with the addition of 2tblsp of milk powder added to each litre of milk.  Definately helps to give is a bit more body.  How did the next batch turn out?

Ok here is the chocolate cake recipe for you to try;

1 2/3 cups plain flour
2 cups raw sugar
2tblsp milk powder
250gr butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup sourdough
2 eggs lightly beaten
1tsp bicarb soda
1tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 200 C.  Mix flour, sugar and milk powder together.  In a saucepan mix butter cocoa and water and bring to a ful boil stiring all the time.  Pour over the flour sugar mixture and combine well.  When mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add the sourdough, eggs, bicarb and vanilla.  Pour into a lined and greased 20 x 30 x 2cm pan.  Bake for around 20mins.  Ice when cool.

To be honest I probably used more than 1/2 cup sourdough, but that was usually because I was wanting to some up.  A chocolate sour cream icing goes well with this as does whipped fresh cream.
I have a banana muffin recipe too if you are interested.

[Marion]

Hi
We had our first homemade yogurt for breakfast this morning!
I followed a recipe that said to heat the milk but not past 82°C,180F. (Instead of the simmering I did in the second batch). I don't know if it was this that made the difference. Then did every step as before but at 43 °C and  I let it sit at 43 °C for 11 hours.
The result is a nice yogurt but it is not very firm. I see why you put the milkpowder in there. I feel that it is not the perfect yogurt yet. Or at least what I perceive as perfect.
Should I buy cultures instead of using storebought yogurt? I believe I saw something like that on a dutch website (We are a dutch-french family recently immigrated to Quebec Canada and I still surf the web in my mother tongue).
Thanks for you help and thanks for the chocolate sourdough recipe. I'll try it out.My kids don't like banana's when in cakes so I don't make that.
Cheers

[Tea]

Well I don't know that you "need" culture, as my mother has successfully made yoghurt for years using only yoghurt as the starter, but it might be interesting to see what the difference, and which you think gives you a better result.
Great to hear that you have had a successful batch anyway.
Hope the family like the cake.

[Tea]

Marion, just wondering how the yoghurt making is going?