Active Yeast vs. Instant Yeast

My favourite soapbox topic!

In my opinion, the yeast industry in North America is shooting itself in the foot by having too many types of yeast and by different manufacturers not using the same names (or using the same names for different things).

In the brand I buy there is:

Cake (moist) - the traditional live yeast; needs to be dissolved in water

Active dry - the traditional dry yeast; needs to be dissolved usually with a bit of sugar

Instant - contains a bit of yeast enhancer (citric acid, maybe some other stuff?) and is possibly more concentrated than active dry; does not need to be dissolved

Bread Machine - exactly the same as instant in a different package

Rapid Rise - larger amount of yeast enhancers and other packaging changes to the granules. Does not have to be dissolved. Works very fast and is intended for straight doughs that you want to complete within an hour or so. Generally not used by artisan bakers who seek slower, not faster, rise.

The confusing part is that some manufacturers reverse the meaning of "instant" and "rapid rise", and vary on which they call "bread machine". Thus hurting the entire industry IMHO.

sPh

if you're pregnant, you really don't need to worry about sperm count.

men...! ;-} --What I mean is, and I do not stand behind the science, lads, is that if you want a baby, you're in the process of making a baby, what difference does it make if there were 10,000 little buggers or 100,000, because you will have the desired result in the end, n'est pas? (Pardon my French...) Essentially yes SDG, one does not need more than enough. Gold star for you.:-) So. If your bread is rising...and you like how it bakes up...does it matter if on some uber-microscopic scale one type of yeast gives you more, er, sperm, than another? I don't believe that the standard yeasts available will give you too much, as such, by virtue of type alone. I can't believe this. You guys. But I did LOVE the part about sublime.

Very interesting topic and questions I've asked myself often. Now, how 'bout this?

This week I picked up a few things for the kitchen and thought it would be handy to have another set of stainless measuring spoons. When I compared the new to the old I saw that these can't possibly be the same measure!

Weight vs Measure

Sure enough, tested using sugar and the digital scale, the new 1/4 tsp holds 1 gram; the old weighs 3 grams!  That means that we are all over the board if we are trusting volume measurements rather than weights. That would affect the action of your yeast a lot more than the small percentage of difference between types of yeast.

So that's why I could taste the baking powder in those dumplings!

I've been wanting to try fresh or 'cake' yeast - but it seems to be obsolete for home bakers. Does anyone know a source?

I normally find it wrapped in foil, 1 1/2" cubes between the eggs and the milk.  Mini Oven

The only time I ever had an open package of yeast not work was when it got above 38°c or got wet.  I crimp the tops and put a mini clothes pin on them and mine stand in the cupboard.  You can stand them in the fridge as well.  They seem to keep forever.  


I give them the sniff test too just to make sure, they should smell nutty and fresh yeasty,  If a package smells like ammonia or you can't stand the smell, dump it.  Same goes for cake yeast. (Cake yeast when old starts to run out of the package.) Mini Oven

I use Fleischmans Instant yeast in 1lb. bulk bags.  Once I'm done baking I just fold the top over and place a "Chip Clip" on the seam to seal.  Then I toss in the fridge in back on the top shelf.

TT

I use Active Dry yeast.  I'm under the impression that Instant is now preferred, but I bought in bulk and still have lots left.  I keep it in the freezer, not trusting the cupboard or the fridge, and it's lasting for years.

Also, I don't always dissolve the yeast ahead of time.  Sometimes I just throw it in the dry ingredients, like instant.  It hasn't caused me any problems.

And, since I like long ferments, I usually use less yeast than the recipe calls for (unless the recipe is already for long fermentation).  So imprecise measuring spoons don't matter too much to me as far as yeast goes.

But I've often looked at the spoons that also have ml markings and wondered about the "coincidence" that that spoon size should be exactly so many ml, and not a fraction thereof.

Rosalie

Interesting topic, here...I have been pondering the same things lately.  Mainly because there is so much misinformation out there.  I recently took a few books out from the library.  Amy's Bread says that instant yeast has to be "activated" by warm water, which we know isn't true (pain a l'ancienne, anyone?).  And then another book I checked out (I think Ultimate Bread?) said that instant yeast is the same as rapid rise.  However, I know from practice that this, too, is wrong.  Rapid rise yeast raises a straight dough in about half the time of active dry or instant yeast.  Conversely, my own experience has been that instant yeast and active dry act the same in dough, when you're looking at rise times and whatnot.  I do, however, believe that it takes less instant yeast than active dry to raise dough, all other variables being equal.  Of course, I read that in a book (probably BBA), and obviously we can't take the books as gospel, but I just remember to consider the source.

It's annoying that there are so many differing "facts" about yeast, isn't it?

Katie in SC 

Active Dry Yeast does not require sugar to be activated

I use Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast and have done for many years. I always activate it in water (baby bottle temperature) but don't usually wait til it starts bubbling to check to make sure it's viable. I add a little sugar only if the bread recipe calls for sugar. I would only check for viability if the jar was near the end and the date was close to expiry. Once the jar is opened, I keep the yeast in the fridge.

Generally, I activate the yeast in a small bowl with quarter cup of the babybottle temperature water. I then mix all the other ingredients together in the big mixing bowl and finally add the yeasted water at the end. (Sometimes I withhold the salt until kneading time....)

I have read (but of course, one can't believe everything one reads) that instant yeast is not so good for long slow cool rises - which is what I favour for all our bread. 

This thread, Yeast: Dry vs Rapid Rise, begun Nov 4, 2007 and having many replies, covers many of the same points. Check it out.

dobrinov,

ADY is best activated in water at 105-110°F.  Are you using an instant-read thermometer?

cb

cake yeast is the best to use for the following reasions]

1-most breads need to come out of the mixer between 75 and 80 degrees F

a colder ferment will uesult in the best flavor as a hoter ferment will cause the yeast to ferment faster and leave behind more ETOH resulting in a sour old tastiog bread or even a runned dough

when making danish or other sweet products the dough must not ferment on the bench while the fat is being folded in to the dough also it allows for long frezer life

i made about 4 pounds of danish let the dough set in the frdge ofer night then made the dough up into cheese and other types of indvidual pieces and put them in to the frezzer UNBAKED

THEY WILL LIVE ABOUT TWO MONTHS IN THE FREZZER

you can take out as much as you want and leave them out at a hot room temp about 80 degress for between 2 and 3 hours then bake them and they will be as good as the day them were made

dry yeast does not hold up as well in the frezzer and since it needs hot water to get started your dough comes out of the mixer to hot

also remember that you need 2 times the amount of cake yeast then powderd 1 ounce of dry means 2 ounces of cake

lastly cake yeast is the cheapest thing around.  forget about buying it a the suppermarket.  find a bakery supplyer and most will sell you one block which is 2 pounds of fresh cake yeast for about 2 dollers and if will live in your fridge for about 2 months or so just don't freez it

I'm sorry if this is redundant... I'm new to baking-bread-from-scratch but trying to learn...

I just moved to a rural area in China where they don't sell bread. My husband misses it a lot, so I'm trying to learn to make it. However, what I'm reading on here sounds a bit intimidating. I've baked yeast breads in the states, but I had any ingredient I could want and just did step by step recipe instructions, without trouble. Here, I just have the basics.

 I'm posting some questions in other, more relevant forums, but mine for here is: when I buy yeast here, it comes in a small packet. What kind of yeast is that? And if it's one particular kind (active dry yeast, perhaps?) then do I need to do something special if a recipe calls for a different kind of yeast? I'm pretty sure this is all they sell here - it's meant for steamed buns, "bao zi".

Thanks! 

I guess I didn't realize that active dry yeast was always supposed to be hydrated, until reading it hear.  I have never used instant yeast until a month ago.  I have been baking bread since I was a teenager. 

If a recipe calls for hydrating, and I mix by hand, I do.  If I am mixing bread in a machine, I just dump my active dry yeast on top of the flour.  During the past month I have used instant the same way and I have noticed absolutely NO difference in the breads, whether I hydrate first or not, whether I use instant or active or not. 

I really think bread dough is USUALLY more forgiving than we give it credit for being. 

Why does Instant Yeast have to be mixed with the dry ingredients first before adding the liquid/wet ingredients? Does it always have to be this way? Or can we dissolve the Instant Yeast in water first before mixing with the flour, just like when using Active Dry Yeast?

Thanks.

Rainbowz, big help indeed. Thanks.

I can't say I've ever had a problem with yeast clumpage (I use active dry yeast that I always rehydrate in about 1/4 c water first). As long as the bread is kneaded enough, everything gets interspersed evenly. I've even kneaded in salt after everything else is mixed in and have not had any clumps of salt in the final bread.

Offhand, I can't imagine that anything bad would happen if instant yeast were rehydrated first. In fact, as I recall, Maggie Glezer calls for doing just that in her recipe for Acme's baguettes in "Artisan Baking" in order to reduce the amount of yeast actually going into the preferment.

-Elizabeth

P.S. I have heard that there are people who don't bother rehydrating active dry yeast though and I would be wary of doing that. I would worry about yeast clumps in THAT situation.

What sort of brand of yeast is more quality? Does different brand's yeast effect the taste of breads? It is hard to find fresh or cake yeast. Some people have suggested me to use dry active yeast or instant yeast to subsitute fresh yeast. Which one is better instant yeast better or dry active yeast? If I would see fresh yeast in a recipe, I was told to do a conversion of cake yeast to dry active yeast. I have noticed the portion of dry active yeast is almost half of fresh yeast. I was wondering if the fermented time for dough should be cut down to half as well.

Active dry yeast is not popular with professional bakers. One reason is the need to rehydrate in warm water before use. Time is money in commercial settings. But the other, more important issue is that it has a high percentage of dead and damaged yeast cells due to the harsh spray-drying process used in its production. The dead cells release a substance that is detrimental to gluten development, and this tends to result in a sticky, dense product.

Sorry if this has already been covered. I was alerted to this thread by someone visiting my blog entry on Montreal-style bagels. They, like another poster before them, had experienced problems with sticky dough using active dry instead of the instant called for in the formula. As I said to her, there does not seem to me to be any upside to using active dry .

I was leery myself about instant yeast initially. So many of the instant products developed in the last 60 years have meant loss rather than gain in quality. But not in this case! The production process for instant yeast is gentler and far superior. I'm a total convert. Fresh is good, too - especially for longer fermentation times.

Do I need to let the dough rise a 2nd time when I use instant yeast?  I can't seem to get it rise enough to get the bubbly holes that I see in most breads.  Mine seems to turn out usually dense and heavy.

I've read most posts here with varying opinions about one yeast vs another. I have used all three types; fresh, active and instant, all with great succss. I have been baking most of my  life, spent 2 years in Culinary school focusing on baking and owned my own deli bakery for 5 years. Also, I am a third generation professional baker in my family. I used instant yeast exclusively with excellent results in my business.  Understanding how to use all different types of yeast is more important than what type you are using. Generally, for whatever weight of fresh yeast is called for, use 40% active dry and 33% instant. Volume measurements are not accurate for baking period! There are many more issues to address here. I will try to address them one at a time.

I've been using Red Star Active Dry (big vacuum-packed brick that I buy from Costco, stored in the freezer) for 5 years now. I rarely re-hydrate or proof. I've used it very successfully in PR's BBA, WG and ABE recipes which call for scant amounts of instant.

Honestly, if I could find bulk instant offline and locally, I'd buy it. Since RS is so readily available here I am sticking with it until I can find bulk instant.

That being said, perhaps I'll have a baking epiphany the first time I use instant and eat all of the words above. Until then, I'm happy to remain blissfully ignorant. LOL

Since I use many of the recipes from Charles Van Over's Best Bread Ever (making bread with a food processor), I decided to get a 1 lb package of SAF instant yeast. I keep it in a vacuum sealed container in the refrigerator and it lasts forever.

I agree that the multitude of package label terms is too confusing. Seems like all the brands want to have anything that sets them apart from others. Even after reading a ton about it in numerous books and here on the web, I'm still as confused as ever. I was hoping that Harold McGee would set things straight in his cooking science book, but he barely touches on the subject. Before I got the SAF instant, I just bought whatever was cheapest. Buying cake yeast wasn't a good idea because it could possibly go bad before I used it.

Billybob

Look at any German recipe, and you will almost always find fresh yeast as ingredient. I baked for many years with fresh yeast, since nothing else was available. Though I never experienced too many problems with it, fresh yeast is notoriously fickle, and many of my friends would not dare baking yeasted pastry because they had tried before and their dough had failed to rise. After instant yeast came on the market, I started using it - and never looked back!

I cannot say that I, an avid and regular baker, noticed a difference in taste, but with instant yeast I achieve a very reliable proof, and don't have to worry about draft, a too cold environment, etc. - always a consideration when using fresh yeast.

From the discussions I read in German food magazines, using "natural" fresh yeast (does it grow on a tree?) instead of "commercial" dry yeast  has not much to do with real knowledge but appears to be purely "faith based".

By the way, in "Artisan Bread Every Day" Peter Reinhart suggests dissolving even instant yeast in 95 F warm water - supposedly to give the yeast cells a boost before they go into the fridge overnight. I don't think this is really necessary - I didn't notice a difference.

Happy yeast baking,

Karin

fresh yeast is notoriously fickle,

 I’ve been using fresh yeast for the past 18 years and would say the opposite. IMO, fresh yeast is notoriously *reliable*. I bake bread almost every day – always (unless I’m demonstrating, or testing) using fresh yeast.

...and many of my friends would not dare baking yeasted pastry because they had tried before and their dough had failed to rise.!

I have taught breadmaking to many different groups – of all ages, from reception class children to 80-year-old care home residents; in classes ranging from 1 to over 20. I can count the failures on the fingers of one hand. (And those failures have never been a problem with the yeast – salt instead of sugar, lemon juice that had gone bad – those sorts of things.)

I have to say that if your friends’ bread dough did not rise, it would more likely to be the fault of something they did, rather than the fault of the yeast.

 with instant yeast I achieve a very reliable proof, and don't have to worry about draft, a too cold environment, etc. - always a consideration when using fresh yeast.

 Why are these things a consideration only with fresh yeast? Once a bread dough has been made, using whatever yeast, it behaves just as any other bread dough. All bread doughs need to be covered; all bread doughs need an appropriate environment – I don’t understand the distinction.

I tell my students that there are only three rules to remember when making bread:

Use bread flour (although other wheat flours will work – just not as well)

Keep the yeast alive by using lukewarm water and keeping their dough away from anywhere too hot whilst proving

And always give the yeast time to do its work before placing their bread in the oven.

There are a couple of other things they should do to get the best out of their bread, but I wouldn’t call them rules as such:

Make sure the dough is soft and squishy – so as the CO2 increases, it can push out the dough and create bigger holes

And, finally, if you’re at all concerned your bread isn’t cooked properly, never be afraid to put it back in the oven.

Apologies for the soapbox there - I just want to get over to any lurkers or browsers that breadmaking is an easy, everyday activity - whatever yeast is used! :-D

Regards, Paul

Some of my high altitude cookbooks say that yeast doughs perform better at high altitude using active dry yeast rather than instant yeast. What do you TFLers say.

Pam

Hi Karin

I should have said in my last post that I always tell my students “:…whatever works for you!”

Fresh yeast works for me and instant works for you, really! And that’s fine. 

However, for anyone wishing to make bread with fresh yeast I would like to defend its properties. 

You say that it’s “much easier to do something wrong with fresh yeast than with instant yeast”?

I have to ask, where’s the evidence for this? 

I just don’t see it. Surely, once a dough is made – with whatever yeast – it behaves like any other yeast-risen dough?

Do you limit your baking to white breads?

No, at home I make wholemeal bread for myself and family (in the proportion 600:100 wholemeal to white – here’s my standard recipe, using method B):

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.com/2010/04/basic-loaf-of-bread.html

I also make bread using spelt flour.

Maybe I've been spoilt in always having a good source of fresh yeast - but I used dried active yeast for 18 years before I found a regular supply of fresh yeast, and I always found that to be reliable.

Apart from the fact that fast-action yeast is expensive in comparison to fresh, it's the fact that it contains additives that puts me off. And I never liked the fact that, as you knead a dough made with fast-action yeast, you can still see the individual yeast granules in the dough. So I always hydrate this yeast before using it (and I must admit it has come in handy in emergencies!)

Which reminds me that the last time I used it was in a Family Learning session at a Somerset primary school. I brought everything along to the session - apart from yeast! Luckily one of the students knew that a friend who lived near the school had a bread machine - a quick phone call ascertained that she did indeed have a packet of yeast to spare, so the student went to collect it. Phew!

Best wishes - and, as you say, happy baking!

Paul

Excuse me for chiming in so late on this argument. I use active dry yeast almost exclusively and have done for years. This is because it is the most cost effective kind of yeast for me to get.  I habitually rehydrate active dry yeast because that's what my mother taught me to do. I don't always rehydrate it with lukewarm water though. In the summer, I use cold water from the tap. My husband, however, simply throws active dry yeast into the dry ingredients.  All of our bread turns out just fine.

However, I have used fresh yeast - it's readily available in smallish blocks from a nearby deli. Its only disadvantage is that it's expensive. Bread made with fresh yeast rose equally well as same kind of bread made with active dry yeast.

I've also captured yeast and made sourdough. That too got to be rather expensive (so much feeding, burping, babying and tossing away) and one day, I "accidentally" used all of the starter without refreshing it. But that yeast, too, did in fact work. 

Now excuse me while I go to shape boules from dough that rose overnight in the fridge. (The dough was made with a very small amount of rehydrated - in cold water - active dry yeast.)

-Elizabeth

I haven't tried using instant yeast because I'm prejudiced against new-fangled things. (snicker)

The difference between active dry yeast and instant yeast is that there are more living yeast cells in the instant yeast than in the active dry - therefore you need more of the active dry than the instant. And both are commercially made - instant yeast is just a bit more practical.

I'm sorry to hear about your exhausting experience with sourdough. I know there are two camps of believers out there, the ones that keep their starter on the countertop, and feed (and "burp and diaper") it daily, discarding most of it on a regular base, because they produce way too much to use up for the average homebaker.

But there are also the other ones, like me, who keep their starters in the fridge, where they can't grow so fast that they need daily "babying". I bake once or twice a week for a local store, so I have a regular turnover of my sourdoughs every two weeks (the rye sourdough only every 3 weeks) - and they are just fine (and deliver great breads) without any feedings in between.

Sourdough breads taste different, and some doughs you can't rise without the help of sourdough. It's a bit of a pity to limit yourself to breads that rise with commercial yeast alone, and never try one of the darker ryes, for example.

Happy baking,

Karin

Sounds like a nice bread, Elizabeth.

I can reassure you, instant yeast doughs can be retarded in the fridge as well as active dry yeast doughs - I do it all the time.

Karin

Chuck, I make Pain a l'Ancienne every week - the dough is made with ice cold water, mixed just for 5 minutes at medium speed, and put in the refrigerator right away. When I take it out in the morning, it has risen, (and while it comes to room temperature, it rises more).

My regular doughs I make with water at room temperature, often not very warm, and then, after a brief mix, they go into the refrigerator. I assure you - the instant yeast wakes up just fine!

Karin

Dried yeast is one of the wonders of modern baking – a pourable granular powder made from millions of millions of dehydrated unicellular organisms. After hydration, these small critters munch on the sugar or starch in a dough, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide, which give the bread its distinctively fermented taste and its airy rise.

Successful resurrecting of dry yeast depends entirely on the processing. So if a recipe requires a certain type, the instructions are tailored to their specific needs. These instructions can kill another type of dry yeast, or they fail to create the conditions for it to thrive, causing doughs to rise poorly – or doughs that do not even brew. This means that it is important for bakers to understand the language used to describe the different types of dry yeast and to realize that blind substitution is a crapshoot at best. Some recipes, especially high-moisture dough and short post-fermentation, can provide a hospitable environment for many types of yeast and create a false sense of security around substitution.

Bread baking can be complicated, which is partly due to all variables when using yeast. There are several types of yeast that you can use in baking, but two of the most common are active dry yeast and instant yeast, also called rapid rise yeast. Instant Yeast and Active Dried Yeast include some of the same preparation steps, but your overall baking time gets shorter with Instant Yeast as it can significantly shorten the time it takes for the dough to rise.

As the name implies, active dry yeast must be “activated” by dissolving the granules in warm water according to the packing instructions. (The peculiarities may vary from brand to brand, in some cases, sugar can be added as fuel for the yeast.) When the yeast is still alive, it will start to foam and grow within a few minutes.

Active dry yeast is so unstable that any given packet may be dead. You must, therefore, check whether it is still alive or not before proceeding with the recipe, even if the yeast has not yet reached the expiration date stated on the package. Active dry yeast also has a comparatively large grain size, further necessitating direct contact with warm water to dissolve. Due to this time-consuming step as well as the high risk of failure and high failure costs, active dry yeast is seldom used in a professional environment. When the yeast is still alive, it starts to foam and grow within a few minutes.

• Dry yeast is perishable very quickly. Always check the expiry date before use.
• The effectiveness may vary over time and lead to inconsistent results
• Must be rehydrated before use
• Easily damaged by liquids above 46 ° C (115 ° F)
• Suitable for recipes that require more than one boost
• Suitable for cold-resistant doughs

Thanks to its unique manufacturing process, instant yeast(or rapid-rise dry yeast) is guaranteed to be 100% active and can be used immediately from the packaging. The behavior is constant over time. Due to the small grain size, instant yeast dissolves easily in the ambient moisture of dough, so that no rehydration is required. Because of their stability and shelf life, instant yeast is safe to buy in bulk, dramatically reducing costs compared to the tiny packs of active dry yeast sold in stores.

• Very stable; can be frozen for several years
• Consistent behavior over time
• Tolerant at temperatures up to 130 ° F (54 ° C)
• Suitable for recipes that require more than one boost
• Suitable for cold-resistant doughs

Comparing the difference between active dry yeast and instant dry yeast, we can find that active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in water in advance when making bread, while instant yeast can be directly mixed into the dough. And in terms of storage, instant yeast is more convenient to store and has a longer shelf life.

Since instant yeast has so many advantages, where can we find it?

FADA yeast, one of the largest instant dry yeast manufacturer in China, focus on baking yeast manufacturing since 2006. The yeast manufacturing companies cover an area of 50,000 square meters, with the annual output capacity 15,000 tons. All of the baker’s yeast production equipment are most advanced and first-class, with fully automatic production lines and sterile management in dry yeast production workshop.

Our baker’s yeast is approved by many international food safety and quality certifications, such as CE certification, PSE, UL, SASO, JAS certification, and etc.

If you are interested in instant dey yeast wholesale, welcome to contact us to get the quotation.

I have a super old but unopened jar of Fleischmann’s bread machine yeast (also ideal for rapid rise recipes) that was hiding in our fridge. The date is 1/23/16 but it is unopened and the top hasn’t popped. Now that it is impossible to find yeast in the stores I’m wondering if there is any chance this might still be safe to use?  I’m hoping this wondering baking community can help since I have no idea what I’m doing sin early I’m not a baker myself. Help please, and thank you!