April 27, 2011 - 11:31am
Storing yeast and needs recs for different "kneading" techniques
I just opened my first 1lb package of SAF instant yeast and now have no idea how to store it. I keep my AD yeast in it's glass container in the fridge but how do I store the instant yeast?
Also, I am following a recipe that gives three different "kneading" techniques as options for building the gluten strands; regular kneading, stretch and fold, and French fold. I've got regular kneading down but am not sure about the other two. Are there any videos you can share for these techniques?
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Store your IDY the same as your ADY.
As for developing gluten, the type of dough dictates the best technique - specifically, how hydrated it is. Any dough in the 50%-60% hydration range is not going to give itself over to slap-and-folds or even stretch-and-folds. It would be best kneaded. Bear in mind, the flour and water by themselves will accomplish most of the gluten development, so there is no need to knead a dough as though its life depended on it.
For higher hydration doughs, say 65% and up, stretch-and-folds or slap-and-folds work quite well.
If you poke around this site (using the Search function) you'll find numerous videos demonstrating these.
Good luck
Larry
Along those same lines: Hopefully, you did not toss the jar from the ADY.
Open the SAF yeast as neatly and as close as possible to the top corner of the package. Then carefully fill your empty yeast jar with a few weeks worth of yeast. Then as neatly and tightly as possible roll the SAF pack sealed with some kind of clip if possible. I use a small "binder clip" for this. Then enclose the clipped SAF pack in a freezer bag with as much air as possible squeezed out. Store in freezer.
Store the yeast in the jar in the refrigerator.
Being that I started using sourdough so much, it's well over a year and I'm only about half way through my SAF yeast stored in the freezer. Every time I use it though, it seems to work like fresh. Although it was very fresh to begin with. Barely a month past the manufacture date and still almost 2 years from the expiration date, when purchased.
mrfrost is right - I store my IDY the same way, right down to the binder clip for the opened package of IDY. In my experience, IDY stored this way in the freezer stays viable for a loooong time (for me, up to 3 years after the expiration date on the package).
thanks mrfrost!