The fermentation temperature has a strong influence on yogurt consistency. At the maximum temperature well tolerated
by the bacteria, 104–113ºF/40–45ºC, the bacteria grow and produce lactic acid rapidly, and the milk proteins gel in just two or three hours; at 86ºF/30ºC, the bacteria work far more slowly, and the milk takes up to 18 hours to set. Rapid gelling produces a relatively coarse protein network whose few thick strands give it firmness but also readily leak whey; slow gelling produces a finer, more delicate, more intricately branched network whose individual