This study showed that acid production in 1–3% lentil flour supplemented yogurt was significantly higher during fermentation in comparison with 1–2% skim milk powder supplemented yogurt which may partially be attributed to the lower buffering capacity of lentil supplemented yogurt in comparison with the skim milk supplemented yogurt. Data on the viable counts of the two cultures in the control and supplemented samples however suggest that nutrients brought
by the lentil flour may have affected growth of the yoghurt cultures differently than did skim milk powder. Our results also showed that yogurt supplementation with 1–3% lentil flour either improved or minimally altered the physical and rheological properties of yogurt in comparison with non-supplemented control yogurt. 1 –3% lentil supplemented yogurt demonstrated comparable pH and color with 1–3% skim milk supplemented yogurt and the control sample during
28 days storage. In terms of syneresis, the 1–2% lentil supplemented yogurt had significantly higher whey separation, while the 3% lentil flour had the least whey separation ranking closely after the 3% skim milk supplemented yogurt at day 14 and was comparable with the control sample at day 28. At any given level of supplementation, the rheological properties of the lentil flour supplemented yogurt were comparable with the skim milk supplemented yogurt and they
demonstrated greater viscoelastic properties compared to the control sample. The highest G′ and G″ was observed for 3% lentil flour during storage which may be due to a stronger gel structure due to its higher fiber content in comparison with the other supplemented samples. 1%and 2% lentil flour were comparable significantly with 1–2% skim milk
supplemented yogurt in terms of smoothness, graininess, flavor and overall acceptance. Overall, on the basis of the microbial, physico-chemical, rheological and sensory properties investigations, the results suggest that lentil flour could be potentially considered as a source of ingredient for yogurt supplementation.