So, just what is yogurt, anyway?

in pretty much any baking recipe that calls for milk, buttermilk, sour milk, sour cream, etc.

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Here are some other uses:

Ken's Steakhouse Creamy Apple Cider Vinaigrette Copycat

1/2 tsp Spiced Cider Apple Flavor Drink Mix powder (sugar-free like Alpine or Mott's)
1/3 cup Vanilla Yogurt (like Dannon)
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2 tsp Cider Vinegar

Add ingredients to a small mixing bowl. Mix well.
Use on Chicken, Apple & Cranberry Garden Fresh Salad, etc.

Makes about 1 cup.

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Yogurt Fruit Salad Dressing

3/4 cup Vanilla Yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise (or to taste)

Mix well. I also use it on carrot and celery sticks
and on packaged broccoli slaw.

There are several different types of bacteria that can produce yogurt from milk.  The fat content is entirely up to the producer.  Anything from skim to full milk can be used.  After pasteurization and cooling, the milk is inoculated with the bacteria, sometimes from a previous batch of yogurt, then held at a warm temperature in the 100-110Frange for several hours.  For an individual at home, if you buy pasteurized milk anyway, just warm it up, stir in some yogurt with live cultures and keep it warm for several hours.

Once made, the sky's the limt for uses.  Like fruited varieties?  No problem; stir in some preserves.  Want a lower-fat alternative to sour cream?  Just substitute yogurt on a 1:1 basis, so long as the recipe doesn't rely on the fat in the sour cream.  Want a short-cut to some home-made cheese?  Tie a quart of yogurt up in several layers of cheese cloth and hang it up to drain off the whey.

That just scratches the surface.  Try googling for more information.  You'll find lots.

Paul

I love the stuff.

It's a perfect  substitute for buttermilk in quick bread and muffin recipes.

The bacteria that naturally occur in it are beneficial to the body's digestive system.

It tastes great, especially mixed with fresh fruit or preserves!

And, you can mix it with flour and make a dough as a method for producing sourdough starter.

I know do like the plain jogurt, make Salad dressings with them, add fruit to them, serve it with pancakes and strawberries... 

As Grandpa Larry said, you can use yogurt to start a Sourdough Starter, I saw a Video on Youtube where the Lady used Yogurt and Flour to create a 50% hydration Starter.

are different than those found in a symbiotic SD culture with yeast.  LAB ferment pickels too but are also different than the ones in a SD culture.  Still all LAB make acid and and why pickels and yogurt are tart and sour - like sour cream, buttermilk and creame friche also made with LAB - just not the ones in A SD culture.

I think Dannon is a pretty sharp tasting yogurt-esp the plain. Yoplait is a milder yogurt but my absolute favorite is Fage (pronounced " fah-hay"). It is mild and actually has a dairy flavor that doesn't bite the tongue. You have to train your palate for plain yogurt. We are so used to everything being so highly flavored and sugared that sometimes "real" food that has little added to it just does not appeal to us any more. I like plain yogurt so I can decide what I wasn't it to taste like and since I make homemade jams and sauces, that is what I put on my yogurt.

If you want to order different cultures for different tasting yogurt- Cultures for Health is a good place to start. My other 2 favs are Villis and Matsoni- both very mild tasting and both culture at room temp.

I just prepared the dough for Turkish Simit - Karin's Bäckerei specialty bread for tomorrow: http://hanseata.blogspot.com/2011/10/simit-turkish-sesame-bread.html

Karin