The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Yeast

Rsgold's picture
Rsgold

Yeast

I wasn’t a huge fan of the last type of yeast I got and was wondering what kind of yeast everyone likes?

wumingxuan's picture
wumingxuan

I favour different kinds of yeast depending on my schedule and the kind of bake at hand. For quick bakes I go with instant yeast. Bake King has been acceptable so far, good rise with not too much of the yeasty/over-fermented aftertaste in the finished product. If pressed for time, Fleischmann's RapidRise yeast works fine too. Then there's yeast from a sourdough culture, which you can get different flavours out of by controlling the feed blend and point in the starter's cycle when you use it. 

loaflove's picture
loaflove

i like Saf yeast.  But TBH i haven't really noticed any diff between that and Fleischmann's in terms of flavor and performance  .  Many ppl swear by Red Star.  i assume you are asking about commercial yeast, not SD

justkeepswimming's picture
justkeepswimming

I use SAF as well. I don't notice any flavor difference, but have found it to be more active than the store bought packets of instant yeast. I often end up using a little less than what the recipe calls for, or the proof goes crazy. There were a couple of times the dough threatened to ooze out of the large bowl, like it was part of a 50s sci-fi movie, lol. Part of that experience may be because I use at least some amount of home milled flour and yeast loves that, so your experience may be different.

SAF comes in a small bag and it's quite a lot. I put some in a jar in the fridge for regular use, and froze the rest. It will last me years, especially since I also bake SD breads. 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

Welcome to TFL!

"I wasn’t a huge fan of the last type of yeast I got and was wondering what kind of yeast everyone likes?"

Curious minds want to kiow....

1. Why didn't you like it?  Taste or performance?

2. What brand and type (instant dry, active dry, fresh/compressed) was it that you didn't like?

3. How old was it?

4. If it was dry yeast, did it come in the 7 gram (.25 oz) packets, glass jar, or a larger bag? (it makes a difference.)

5.  How had you stored it? What container, place, and approx temp. ?  (Fridge, freezer, cupboard.)

6. What country are you in? (this is an international web site.) Different commercial yeast is available in different parts of the world.

Abe's picture
Abe (not verified)

I prefer fresh to dried yeast. 

justkeepswimming's picture
justkeepswimming

Interesting. Where (as in type of shop vs the internet) do you usually find it? I have never seen it here, but may just not be looking in the right place. 

Abe's picture
Abe (not verified)

To have quite a few shops in my area that sell fresh yeast. If your local grocery store doesn't sell it then you might try going into a bakery and asking for some. Often in bakery's it's not something on the menu but they will sell you some if you ask for it. Same goes for the larger supermarkets that have their own bakery on site. Other then that you might have to source it on the internet. 

mariana's picture
mariana

I like Fleischmann's ADY and their instant pizza yeast. SAF yeast is very reliable and I like their SAF osmotolerant. I also like Tesco fast action dry yeast, it has bread improvers in the yeast and works very well with untreated flours.

I had very poor results with Red Star brand. It was so bad that I practicaly hate it now. Very inconsistent results and I could never figure out its gassing power and shedule. Not my kind of yeast.

We have only one kind of fresh compressed yeast sold in our stores in Toronto and it is not labeled. It's OK, I buy it sometimes, but I don't find it any better or "fresher" than dry yeasts and there was a period of time around Christmas when that yeast was making my bread bitter for some reason. I went and bought another package (from the same store) and  the same story repeated itself - bitter taste of bread even though there was nothing wrong with yeast. It looked and smelled fresh. To this day I don't know why it happened.