Will proofing instant yeast make a difference?

There are 2 types of dry yeast: Instant Dried Yeast (IDY) and Active Dried Yeast (ADY).

In-general they can be used interchangeably and added directly to the dry ingredients.

Active dry yeast can benefit from being dissolved in a little warm water first, and for recipes that have an enriched dough (ie. with butter, sugar, eggs added) then it can be beneficial to get the yeast going before adding it into the mix. But most of the time it's not needed, so just add to the dry ingredients.

Instant dried yeast usually contains extra "stuff" - like flour enhancers, added vitamins to make the yeast work faster and so on. It's often sold as intended for bread making machines.

Most modern yeasts don't need to be "proofed" (ie. to prove that they're working). Modern processing techniques give you something that works 100% of the time - providing you've stuck to the shelf-life and storage requirements. I suspect that in the early days of dried yeast making, the process wasn't good enough to guarantee that, hence the "proofing" stage.

-Gordon

that might have happened to that person is they yeast was old or they proofed it with too hot water and killed it....to be safe never use water warmer then 105 dF with yeast....just my $.02.

Wendy

I don't know if there is a fix for this elsewhere and I have never read any method for this but every time I try to add yeast to water or milk, it clumps up the way flour used to when I made gravy.  In the same way as with gravy or making pasta, I no longer add dry to liquid but add liquid to dry instead.

I have found that if I add small amounts of melted (but not hot) butter to the yeast, it will not clump up but will mix thoroughly.  Once well moistened, I add the water (milk etc) slowly a table spoon at a time at first and keep mixing.  You can soon pour the rest in a cup at a time.

Similarly, using a technique for making pasta, measure out the flour for your bread and make a bowl in the middle.  Add some of the yeast mix to the center and mix it.  Add more and more liquid mixing it each time.  You will not have any lumps.

I have always put Instant Dry yeast into the flour, what I was told there is enough moisture in the flour to perk up the yeast.

Gerhard

I've made all types of breads and rolls over the years. I usually follow the recipe unless it's overly complicated or time-consuming (and some of them are, in fact ridiculously so). I don't have time for silly baking rituals. I made a brioche bread yesterday by putting ALL the ingredients into the mixer at once, including the eggs, butter (which I threw in whole), and the liquid. I used active dry yeast rather than instant. It turned out beautifully with minimal time and effort on my part. You do need to beat the mixture until everything is incorporated and the proper texture is achieved.

Thing is, many recipes/methods are a carryover from the days when yeast was unreliable and we didn't have powerful stand mixers. Now days we don't need to proof yeast to make sure it's going to work. We also don't usually need to add ingredients separately, unless not doing so will affect the end result. (It usually won't.) One caveat: According to Paul Hollywood, you should put your yeast on the opposite side of the mixing bowl from the salt. This is because the salt can adversely affect the yeast if they are combined while still dry. I can't vouch for how true that is, but I do put yeast and salt on opposite sides of the bowl just to be safe. Nobody likes to waste time and ingredients.