Have some milk that hasn’t quite turned yet?
Milk that has started to spoil may no longer be drinkable, but you can still use it up in cooking and baking without much to-do.
You might want to note, however, that milk tends to become more acidic as it ages. This normally isn’t too much of a concern to our stomachs, but if you’re using it for baking, you might want to fight off the acid using a pinch of baking soda.
If you’re using it to make any breads with yeast, I suggest tossing a pinch of baking soda in with your warm milk before measuring and adding the yeast. That gives the baking soda a few seconds to work its magic, and the yeast won’t be ‘injured’ by the shock of an acid bath. And with older milk, you might want to consider adding a little more sugar or honey than the original recipe calls for when proofing the yeast.
You might even be able to extend the life of a carton of milk by adding a pinch of baking soda a few days after purchase… by restoring the pH of the milk to its more alkaline state, you can help to ward off hungry bacteria that need a lower pH to thrive.
Of course, this won’t save that 2-month old carton of milk that mysteriously emerges from behind the orange juice and under the lettuce in the back of your fridge… but hopefully it will give you a way to use it up before then!
—- random facts for food geeks —
The optimum pH for the growth of yeast is right around 7… and fresh milk usually comes with a pH around 6.7. But spoilt milk can get down to pH 4.4, making for some very unhappy yeasties.
More milky geekery can be found at:
http://www.ilri.org/InfoServ/Webpub/Fulldocs/ILCA_Manual4/Milkchemistry.htm
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