June 17, 2013 - 12:09pm
Is instant yeast hydrated in peter reinhart' s ABED?
hi there
in the opening chapter of Artisan Bread Every Day PR says that, contrary to what he might have done few years back, he now hydrates instant yeast in warmish water for better results. Then, in the individual recipes he suggests to combine all the ingredients together (in very many, at least - I did not check every single one).
Am I missing something? It is not a major problem, just to see if and where I might have misread the recipes.
I have been baking from this book for few years now and most of the breads turn out great anyway, but every so often I ... sort of "re-train" myself by going back to the original recipe and try to re-make it to the letter.
thanks for your help
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I never hydrate my yeast like that, and I suspect it makes no real difference .All of Reinhart's recipes turn out fine when I simply dumpt the yeast in with the flour.
Agreed...I never hydrate my yeast either and it works just fine.
and No, like BreadBro and Ian, I don't think it is really necessary.
I bake my breads either with pre-doughs (as in "Whole Grain Breads") or S & F, as in ABED, and sometimes I do hydrate the yeast, when I stretch and fold, and sometimes I forget. Same diff!
Karin
... thanks for all your comments. I too have not noticed any difference, but I was wondering WHY in the intro he speaks about hydrating the yeast and then he seems to forget it in the recipes. mistakes? do I get it wrong?
Ken Forkish in FWSY says that he contacted a yeast manufacturing company and they confirmed that hydrating the yeast yields "better results".
For what it's worth, I've done it both ways and seen any difference.
Thanks!
Most "instant" yeasts don't need to be hydrated or "proofed" before use in a recipe. You can toss it directly into the rest of the ingredients as in the straight dough method. They rehydrate very quickly during the course of kneading. Just make sure you knead thouroughly to evenly distribute the little guys.
"Active" yeast is just a little slower to rehydrate and should be done using some of the liquid going into the recipe for a few minutes before adding to the rest of the ingredients. Active yeast works fine for a poolish or biga where it can sit for several hours or overnight. But it's only really a difference of a few minutes.
Fresh yeast works great for doughs that you need done quicker because they're not in a state of suspended animation from being dry. However the shelf life is comparatively short.
thanks everybody.... but what I was really trying to understand is wether there is a mistake in ABED or if there is something that I have missed in the book: as I have said PR says that he now hydrates instant yeast (in the intro), in the actual recipes the yeast is then tossed together with all the other ingredients.
Has anyone noticed this discrepancy?
In some recipes PR does hydrate the IY - the babka, for example, though the amount of yeast in that is nothing short of obscene. I've made it successfully with less than half the yeast recommended in the formula.
! good tip, thanks MisterTT.