Ask Allie!

What is Ask Allie?

Ask Allie is our normally-fermenting-related advice column, where you can ask all your fermenting, cooking, baking, and pantry-related questions to get digestible answers! No question about food is off limits!

Due to increased submissions during the Covid-19 pandemic, many of you will receive an emailed reply prior to your question hitting the blog, if I think you need an immediate answer. I will also, as needed, answer way more questions per post than the non-pandemic columns typically do.

To have your question answered in Ask Allie posts, please use the form on our website. If you prefer to be anonymous, just say so in the form and we’ll leave your name out when we answer it in the blog! Note that some submissions may be edited for clarity.

For troubleshooting active issues with a culture you’re working with, please check the FAQs or write us at support@positivelyprobiotic.com - you’ll get your answer faster that way!

You say that if I don’t have the flour for the starter I bought, I can save half of the packet in the freezer and use the rest with what I can get. Do I need to change the directions in the activation page, since there’s only half as much starter culture?

— Lots and lots of you

Nope! Just go on ahead and follow the instructions as though you’d used the whole thing. We actually put enough to do two separate jars, but we prefer people use the whole packet so they can get the most vigorous start! You don’t have to do it just because we prefer it, though…

I am on day 8 and my starter, Julia, looks and smells good but it is not passing the float test. Do I continue to discard and reseed until it floats? I also created a second jar with some discard and when I tested it, it almost floated. Also, do you have any sourdough bread recipes you recommend?

— Kristine

No, Julia looks fine [ed note: there’s a picture in the email, for those of you who didn’t send it]. If you were looking at float test info on the website, you should note that I stuck in there that the float test is highly unreliable. It is. I don’t even use it, it’s so unreliable. Go on ahead and bake!

There are a number of recipes for sourdough bread on the blog to choose from, but you can convert any commercial yeast recipe over to sourdough by doing this sub: 1c starter (100% hydration) = 1 packet yeast + 3/4c flour + 1/2c water

After the yogurt has set can you transfer it to small glass jars, 4 to 6 oz each? Also can you add fruit on the bottom of the jars before you pour the yogurt in? Thank You.

— Ron

Yes to both, Ron. If you’re good with fruit on top, you can also add your culture to the milk and ferment your yogurt in those jars. Normally that’s how I do it, so it’s easier for my kid to grab and go.

I’m about to place an order, but I was curious… Could I get a sorghum flour gluten-free starter and use a mix of flour that has sorghum flour and other flours in it? Or do I need to just use strictly sorghum flour with that starter? In addition to Bob’s Red Mill, I also have some King Arthur’s Gluten free flour mix that I’d like to use. I’m just not sure if it’s a good idea to try and keep 2 starters alive right now. 😂

— Rebecca

You can use any flour you want to, for sure! If you think that later, you’d like to have a “pure” culture with just the sorghum, go on ahead and activate (using the exact same directions) half of the culture and freeze the rest for later.

Use those C4C flour blends! It’s what I do, too! It’s soooooo much easier and less work!

Your instructions for Thermophyilic yoghurts start with heating the milk to 180 degrees. I've read that ultra-pasturized milk, (shelf stable, non-refrigerated until opened) milk does not need to be pre-heated and can be cultured immediately at 110 degrees. May I have your opinion on this, as I have a supply of shelf stable milk and it would be convenient to ignore the pre-heat if possible.

— Douglas

You are good to go with the UHT milk! And thanks for asking about this! I’ve started pre-cooking my milk since you did!

I recently activated my filmjolk yogurt starter. First batch and second batch have both been grainy. How do I ensure my next batch is not grainy? I heat my milk to 180F on low heat and hold it at that temp for about 20minutes, then I cool it down to 78. During the hearing process I stir milk so bottom doesn’t burn. I stir in my starter and let it incubate for 12-18 hours. Where have I gone wrong? What makes the texture grainy?

— Leisel

Normally, grainy yogurt is an indicator that the milk was heated too quickly. My assumption is that however it is you’re getting it to temp with the low heat, it’s not low enough. That said, it may simply be that you’re using too much culture when you rebatch. I’ve had that happen before, where the only thing I’d done differently from my usual was the amount of culture. May I ask, though, why you’re heating it at all? You truly do not need to, unless you’re using raw (in which case you need to do at least some of it). I grab the milk out of the fridge, pour, culture, and move on with my day with the mesophils. That, for me, is the primary advantage of them over thermos.

PS – if you’re going to heat the milk, I recommend a crock pot, and I also recommend that you let it go for several hours. It ultimately will boil the milk and concentrate the sugars, making for a naturally caramelized yogurt. Everyone I’ve fed this to has been like, “what kind of devil magic is this, and will you teach me how to do it?!”

When would I use fed starter as opposed to "discard", would be clarified in the recipe if it makes a difference?

— Cindy

Unless a bread recipe specifies it wants unfed starter, it’s asking for fed. Unfed starter (discard) can also be used for bread, but generally the rise will be a lot slower.