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With raisins, walnut and coconut too. 

I might be completely barking up the wrong tree, but here's a little cross-discipline post for ya...

Looking into other things to ferment I'm toying with the idea of making my own yogurt. For that, I believe, you'd need a healthy LAB culture.

Thing is ... I have a culture - my sourdough starter - which is very healthy. And obviously it contains plenty of lactobacillae. But of course it also contains a lot of yeast, and that will be of NO use in a yogurt starter.

So here's the question - a two parter - 1) Is my idea completely bonkers or does it have potential and 2) what do I need to do to get rid of the yeast?

Two possibilities occurred to me:

One possibility is that by taking some of my sourdough starter and feeding that bit with ONLY milk I naturally make its environment unsuitable for yeast, so all I need to do is feed it like that for a few days and maybe it'll just "magically" turn into a yogurt starter over time
Another possibility: perhaps I can work with temperature and/or salt levels to achieve the goal of getting rid of the yeast. If, for example, the LABs can take 50 degrees Celsius while the yeast dies off at 40, then bringing the liquid up to 45 degrees for a while might just do the trick. Or, conversely, if yeast dies at 4% salt levels, while LABs can tolerate 8%, I can bring the mixture up to 6% and that'll take care of matters.

Anyway. Has anybody ever tried anything as daft as this?

Friend of mine just asked me to bake 12 breads (Tartine) for Saturday evening. I’m up to the challenge :) however I can only bake two breads at time and what is more important I have only three brotforms. I do have food grade “bus tub” but I don’t know if I can keep sourdough (after bulk fermentation) in the fridge. If so, how does it affect final proofing? Can I just take dough; shape it, proof if for 3 – 4 hours and bake?

Has anyone tried this starter/culture? This is a 60% hydrated starter with whole wheat and rye flour. I'm getting "nothing results." I've tried twice. Now I'm thinking maybe my flour is too old, and am going to through those out and try again. Both times, because of the 60% hydration this starter is very dry. Maybe dry is not the correct word. But its clumpy. After mixing it goes into a B&T proof box at 80 degrees for the 22 hours, as directed. Like I say, absolutely nothing happens. After 22 hours it's the same clumpy mass with out any volume increase.. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

One other question, in this starter formula/recipe is malt, diastatic malt, I have read that this is supposed to only used with flours that do not have the malt barley added. But then again this book was written in France,  maybe their flours do not have the malt added like we have here in the US. Any thoughts, please?

Be well,

Bruce, SHB

Brookings, OR