I substitute plain yogurt for buttermilk in baked goods all the time and
never notice a difference in the results. (There probably is a
difference, but I can't say it is noticeable or important.) I used to
pour in a little milk to make the yogurt the same consistency as
buttermilk, but I stopped doing even that because I couldn't detect a
difference in the end result.


I started doing this for exactly the reason you mention: buttermilk is
sold in quart containers, and I generally only needed a cup for whatever
cake or muffins I was making. My current trouble is that while I used
to be able to find plain yogurt in 1 cup containers in the snack section
of the dairy case, now I'm only able to find sweetened and fruited
yogurt that small. The plain stuff I like to bake with is sold in-- you
guessed it-- the quart size or larger.


I suppose I could sour fresh milk with a little vinegar, but that takes
time and planning. I could also freeze buttermilk or yogurt, but that
takes time and planning too to defrost. All I want is for the
supermarkets to sell the ingredients I want in the portion sizes I want
(at a not too inflated price).


--Lia


Michael wrote:
> Wayne posted a recipe for a German chocolate cake
> that I would like to try, but all they had at the
> grocery store was big containers of buttermilk
> and I didn't want to buy that much. Obviously I
> could just use milk instead, but is there any
> other common ingredient that I might add to this
> to bring it closer to buttermilk? My base
> ingredient will be 2% milk.
>
> Thank you, Michael
>