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Yeast FAQWhat is the difference between active dry yeast and instant yeast (also known as bread machine yeast)? Instant yeast is a little more potent than active dry yeast and can be mixed in with your dry ingredients directly. I generally find it easier to work with. Active dry yeast works just as well as instant yeast, but requires being activated in a little bit of warm water before being added to the rest of the ingredients. Failure to properly activate it will result in your loaf not rising adequately. Can I substitute active dry yeast for instant yeast in my recipe (or vice versa)? Yes. If you are substituting active dry yeast for instant yeast in a recipe, read the instructions on the package to figure out how to activate the yeast before adding it to the recipe and reduce the amount of water you add later in the recipe by the amount of water you proof the yeast in (i.e., if you activate the yeast in a half a cup of water, add a half a cup of water or milk less later so that you end up with the same total amount of liquid in the recipe). You may also want to add about 20 percent more yeast to the recipe than what is called for, although using less yeast and letting it rise more slowly will result in a more flavorful loaf. If you are substituting instant yeast for active dry yeast, you can reduce the amount of yeast you use in your recipe by approximately 20 percent. Be sure not to forget to increase the amount of water you add to the dry ingredients by the amount that you would proof the active dry yeast in, so that you end up with the same total amount of liquid in the recipe. What about fresh yeast? Professional bakers often use fresh yeast. If you encounter a recipe that uses fresh yeast, divide the weight by 3 to calculate the proper amount of instant yeast to use. Many recipes in my baking books call for using a starter. I don't have the time/energy/patience to sustain a starter. Can I substitute yeast instead? Absolutely. And vice-versa: you can turn a yeasted bread into a naturally leavened bread by omitting the yeast and including a starter. The flavor will be different, obviously, but in my experience it still can turn out quite good. You may even find you prefer your modified version to the original recipe. I don't know of an exact formula to calculate how much to substitute. I just assume that I'm going to need to add a little more flour and water (how much of each depends on whether it was a wet or dry leaven I am replacing) and enough yeast for a comparable size batch of yeasted bread. I usually figure around 1 or 2 teaspoons per loaf. Also be aware that yeast tends to move quicker than starters do, so expect to cut the rise time down by something like one half (or else reduce the yeast even more).
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Feeding a poolish
How do I feed a starter, specifically a poolish, so that I can continue to use it. Should I store it in the frig or leave it at room temperature. I'm finding very little information on the web about starters and their maintenance.
Thank you
Poolish
A poolish is really just a one-shot deal that's used primarily to inject a lot of flavor into the bread, though it does help the bread rise as well. Basically, the night before you bake, take a pinch of yeast, a cup or so of flour, and 1/2 to 1 cup of water -- mix it all up and let it work. Here's a recipe for bread that uses the poolish method.
If you're looking to create a sourdough starter -- which is a symbiotic culture of wild yeasts and bacteria -- then check out SourdoLady's instructions.
Yeast Used
Princessno9Hi,
I have a school investigation homework task and
I need to find out what type of yeast is used in
a breadmaker??
Could someone help me with this?
Thanks
Re: Yeast Used in Bread Machine
Princessno9,
You came to the right place. If you look up at the very top of the discussion page where you added your question I think you will find the answer you need!
We also had a much longer discussion of yeast here: Active Yeast vs Instant Yeast. Sometimes we talk in "breadmaking language" so if any of the words don't make any sense please ask what they mean. People here love answering questions.
sPh
Problems with Sourdough
I am having a lot of trouble getting my sourdough to rise properly and have an airy consistancy. I have been using my own natural starter (no added yeast other than the yeast captured in the air) with little luck. I cultivated my starter for 2 weeks before I began using it, so I assumed the yeast concentration would be high enough to get a good rise.
If anyone has any suggestions for me to get my sourdough to rise please let me know!
(I should tell you that the dough does rise, but minimally during a 6 hour rest period. While it is baking it goes through a second rise, but nothing compared to the rises of a dough with dry active yeast)
Hi fudgies. I'm still a
Hi fudgies. I'm still a novice, but there are plenty of experts around here. Please tell us how you maintian your starter - how often you feed it, how much flour and water, whether it's firm or liquid, etc. With more info, I know the folks here can help you.
I use active dry yeast
Whenever I use a recipe that calls for instant yeast, I use exactly the same amount of active dry (rather than using a little more) The bread always turns out just fine. Perhaps it may take a tiny bit longer to proof but that doesn't generally harm the final loaf.
-Elizabeth
More on Instant Yeast
Recently I decided to chuck all my yeast and start over. I had been using SAF Red and Active Dry which I store in an acrylic sealed container in the freezer. I have had good luck with both varieties but I suspected that any degradation would be so slow that I might not notice the loss in performance. A pound of yeast is cheap so I dumped them both the day my new batch came from KA.
I decided to abandon the Active Dry and switch to SAF Gold Instant. Gold is what they call "osmotolerant" and is supposed to be better for sweet or acidic doughs. I have been making a lot of sourdough/yeast combinations lately and I thought the properties of Gold might be a help.
It's been about a Month since I started using the Gold and I love it. I frequently add a little Starter to the preferment (20-200 grams) and I get much better results in proofing now that I have started using this new yeast.
I t could be that I hadn't noticed the slowly degrading 2 year old yeast I dumped. I don't think this has anything to do with KA running a marketing program on us for another product. SAF Gold is made by serious yeast makers and for a reason. It won't cost much to try it out and if I'm right we will benefit.
Eric
Just switched to local dry yeast
And have to say I have never seen such large pearls of yeast! And the color has me stumped! Never too old to learn a new trick....
After mixing some of this into water and flour 50/50 and left overnight, I can see it didn't quite dissolve evenly. I did mix it into the water first but not long enough. I will let it dissolve completely next time. (edit)....well that didn't work until the temperature got up to 105°F or 40°c ! I found out the package says nothing about dissolving it.
Dry yeast
Korean Dry Yeast -This photo is great! - I can't even see it this well with spectacles!
Mini O
Wow, this is so golden
Wow, this is so golden brown! Did it raise your bread, Mini?
And do you think it was created with wheat flour?
-Elizabeth
Yes it worked / or I got gas!
I used it in the Monkey bread recipe. But not before playing with it for hours to get it to dissolve. By using hot water, it dissolved within minutes, I added sugar to proof it to make sure it was working. And therein lies the problem, the water has to be heated first. I did build it into the recipe by dissolving powdered milk into the water, heating it, cooling it and adding the yeast. It takes just a little bit more and it has a lot of lifting power.
I have a peach wine experiment going on at the same time. 2 litres of juice each with a different yeast and covered with a balloon. The first has a pea size lump of sd added, the second a pinch of instant yeast, the third a pinch of dry yeast, and the forth instant yeast again. They are all making gas and working hard. The instant is the first yeast to peak and settle. The sd took days to peak and still has bits of foam, the dry also took time to dissolve (no heat)and still has foam on the surface, it's balloon was the largest (most gas). The fourth bottle got started last night and just blowing up the balloon.
So what does that tell me? That if I'm having a party I should just blow them up and not use yeast or maybe dry yeast and sd are good for longer ferments, instant for short ones.
I have enough juice for one more bottle, I will heat up a little bit of the juice and dissolve the dry yeast in it then see if it goes gassy faster.
Mini O-CO2
Doesn't hot water kill yeast?
This really surprises me; I had thought that hot water would kill the yeast! Just how hot are you having to make the water? (I generally use baby-bottle-temperature water to dissolve active dry yeast but have used colder water on occasion and still had decent results.)
Is there any difference in flavour in the various lengths of time it takes to blow up the balloons with your peach wine experiment?
-Elizabeth
Most yeast cells die above 50°C or 122°F
Better to stay about 5°c and 10°F degrees under that.
So I let the hot water cool until I could hold my finger in it about 42°c or 105°F. I put my quick read thermometer in to check. The yeast above (photo) must have a gel coating that requires heat to melt. It would also not surprise me if that coating included malt, or other food stuff for the yeast, could be a brown rice coating too. I still added a teaspoon of brown sugar. Once dissolved I let it sit for about 10 minutes waiting for foam ...and it did come ...first slowly and then enough to cover the surface. After 20 minutes it looked like cappucino.
About the peach wine...I haven't tasted them yet but the sd looks the best, it is effervescent. Looks a lot like peach champagne. Opps, the dry yeast is also effervescent. Does make me curious!
Mini O
The different flavors suprised me
I tasted the peach wine, if you could call it that, granted 10 days it is not very old but it is very interesting. The one fermented with my sd starter tastes very good, a improvement on the peach juice with hint of sour and fine bubbles that dance on the tongue. The instant yeast wine tastes yeasty and not so nice. The dry yeast is also yeasty but dryer with touch of bitter. I went back to the first bottle and tasted another 100g ...much better.
Now if I applied this to dough fermentation, it confirms that I prefer to use sourdough than instant or dry yeast in a long extended preferment. I can taste lots of differences with this simple experiment. The sourdough brings out the flavor instead of dominating it. hmmmm....
Mini O
This is most interesting.
This is most interesting. And it sort of confirms what I've always felt about instant yeast I much prefer to use active dry (and very occasionally fresh yeast) if I'm using commercial yeasts.
In spite of the "too sour for our taste" qualities of our sourdough bread, I still think that the aroma of it baking is far more pleasing than the aroma of bread made with commercial yeast. As you say, there is a bitter quality that is underlying with the active dry yeast.
Today, I'm trying an experiment with our sourdough and am just about to shape it - immediately after kneading it - and so allow for only one rise. I'm hoping that this will cut back on the sour flavour.
I must say that I really like that the wine made with your sourdough tastes best. Very cool.
And what a confirmation for the slow food movement!
-Elizabeth
Update on the peach wine
A week ago I tasted the peach wine made with sd starter... very much like a weak vinegar.
The peach wine with instant yeast tastes more like wine. Not sure I like it yet.
I poured the vinegar over into a clean bottle and set it aside for salads. Today I took it out and it was all bubbly again! Poured some out into a glass and it made a nice foam head. Wow and tastes....like peach beer. Very good! I put it into the fridge to cool. When I drink it I think of grilled bratwurst and picnics. Crazy!
re: peach beer
How cool is that?
And I find it particularly fascinating that when it was young, it was sour and vinegary but after being allowed to mature, it turned to ale! I wonder if the vinegar-like taste is similar to the first kind of bacteria that is formed in the beginning stages of a wild yeast starter and the final peach beer is like the final stages.
-Elizabeth
Interesting the starter still found food
...and when it was cold, my beer expert thought it better for salad dressing. It did taste better at room temp than cold. Those beasties are kicking out the sour in the 50°F zone and changing things!
Mini