Culture Shock

Two things today: first a sourdough update, then yogurt.

There are signs that a starter will give you indicating that it has died, gone off, or is otherwise useless. In the case of mine, it was showing me no activity at all for several days, and there was a grim cesspool of hooch on top. I had to know what this meant, though, and the only way I could test this was to make some dough. I cheated a little bit, though, and I added a pinch of yeast to the sponge before mixing in the rest of the flour and water. After mixing in the ingredients, I had the most supple, smooth, elastic dough I've ever worked with. It was beautiful. I got excited and let it rise in a warm place for a few hours. I came back to such a sad sight, words cannot describe it. Instead of a nicely risen, puffy loaf of dough, I had a pool of goo. I didn't worry too much, though. Yes, my starter was dead, but was I on the right track with the taste? I baked that pile of goo into a nice, crusty, albeit flat, loaf of some very tasty sourdough with a delicate crumb. It went very well with a butternut squash ginger soup that took no time at all to cook.

I call that a partial success. However, I need to start again with the starter, and this time I will pay more attention to its needs and wants. Acidity is key in developing the yeast, but it must be well balanced and timely. I'll get that going soon.

In the meantime, I've become slightly infatuated with Greek yogurt, and since it's a pricey infatuation, and since I'm getting into an Indian cooking marathon mood again in which yogurt will play a key part, I need to learn how to make yogurt. I tried it once before in the times before this blog came to be, so I don't mind exploring and sharing.

My first attempt went from memory, and it failed on all counts. The milk was not scalded at a high enough temperature and wasn't held a that temperature for long enough. The incubation time was too long, and the temperature was again too low. After some reading, this is what I did, and what you should do if you need a pile of yogurt brewing in your house.

Homemade Yogurt

1 quart fresh milk (whole, 2%, skim)
2 T store-bought yogurt

Equipment:
A double boiler or one pan that fits in another
A candy thermometer
A warm, 125 deg F place for incubation

Place the milk in the top portion of the double boiler. I used a stainless bowl that I set over a pan of simmering water. Bring some water in the bottom section to a boil and watch the temperature of your milk. When it gets to 200 deg F, reduce your boil and maintain 200 for five minutes. This will change the proteins in the milk so that they will link together when the bacteria begin to act on the milk.

Cool the milk down to 120 deg F by setting the bowl or pan in a bowl of cold water. Watch it carefully so that it doesn't cool down much below 120. Take a cup of this milk and whisk in the yogurt. Stir this mixture back into the warm milk and cover the container. Alternatively, you can pour this into individual size jars or other small, lidded containers. Cover whatever container you're using and put it into your warm place. The ideal temperature is between 122 and 130 deg F. I had my gas oven set to 135 with the door ajar, and I was able to get 128. Keep the milk there for 3 1/2-4 hours, and you will get yogurt. It won't be super thick, but it will set and noticeably yogurt-like in appearance and taste. Pop it right into the fridge and it will keep there for a week. Save a couple tablespoons of this batch for your next batch.

To make the yogurt nice and thick like Greek yogurt, line a bowl with triple-layered cheesecloth or a cloth napkin, pour the yogurt into the bowl, and tie the four corners of the cloth up. Hang this over the bowl (to catch the whey) for a few hours and you will have a strained, thick yogurt. The longer you hang, up to a day, the thicker it will be, and when almost all of the whey is out of the yogurt, it is basically cheese. In the middle-east, they call it labneh, and it makes a great spread with toasted pita if you pour olive oil on top of the cheese and sprinkle it with torn mint.

Too many words, not enough pictures. I'll get some up soon.