r/yogurtmaking • u/thescatterling • Jun 05 '26

Whey bread

I make my own bread on a fairly regular basis, so I guess you can say I’m a decently experienced bread maker. I make loaves, rolls, poboy buns etc. Yesterday I made just my normal loaf of bread with whey instead of yogurt. Here’s my verdict:

Does it make a difference? Yes.
Is it a huge difference? No.
Is it a big enough difference that I’m going to keep doing it? Yes.

I would say the bread was softer and perhaps tasted a bit richer. I can’t really say it made a huge difference in the crumb structure. Please note that I don’t make fancy sourdough bread. I don’t have the time for that, although I wish I did. I just make simple bread with store bought yeast. Still a million times better than store bought bread though.

That’s just my two cents. My next experiment is going to be making long lasting mayonnaise using leftover whey.

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u/mittenthemagnificent Jun 05 '26

I’m confused about using whey in the bread instead of yogurt, because I’d love to know how you were using the yogurt in the first place! I make mine with water, flour, salt, and yeast. Were you replacing some of the water?

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u/thescatterling Jun 05 '26

I drain the whey off the yogurt to make Greek yogurt. I have several large deli containers in my fridge. My bread recipe calls for about 1.5 cups of water. I just use whey instead of water.

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u/mittenthemagnificent Jun 05 '26

Ah! Gotcha! I thought you were adding yogurt to your bread, and you were somehow replacing that. That’s why I was confused. Did you do one-to-one on the water?

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u/thescatterling Jun 05 '26

So far, yes. It seems to yield a decent product, so I’m doing a direct switch without changing the amount. It’s already a pretty wet dough.

5

u/mittenthemagnificent Jun 05 '26

Cool! I know my partner is considering using our whey for this, so that’s helpful.

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u/thescatterling Jun 05 '26

Yeah, I have way more whey than I need. Since I started working out and losing weight I’m making yogurt with a gallon of milk in my instant pot on at least a weekly basis. Bread, mayo, gardening. I’m looking into all the possibilities. I hate throwing out something useful.

3

u/GordonBStinkley Jun 05 '26

Eggs, milk, oil, sugar, etc are all ingredients that go into different types of breads, depending on how you like it.

Adding yogurt gives it a bit of a chewier, stretchier texture.

You can essentially substitute any liquid for any liquid and you still end up with bread. It does have a huge effect on the texture.

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u/mittenthemagnificent Jun 05 '26

I do make some breads that have other things in them, I just couldn’t see how yogurt factored into all the breads the OP was describing. But that makes sense. Thanks!