The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Yeast and flavour

Anonymous baker's picture
Anonymous baker (not verified)

Yeast and flavour

I thought it might be worth revisiting this topic.

Though this is about yeast and direct baking there is a simple, but well known, twist to improve the loaf flavour at the end.

As those who use 'starters' have long known getting a good flavoursome culture going makes a big difference in the flavour of the finished loaf. Baking is after all about brewing.

With this in mind I decided to try different yeasts to see what the difference was in the flavour of the finished loaf.

I used to use cake yeast and found that there was little difference between the loaf flavour it produced and and an 'instant yeast'. Instant yeast had the advantage that I no longer got the odd poor loaf because I had kept it too long.

And, there I left it for some years. Then  I came across some organic fresh yeast in an online shop and decided to give it a try. The manufacturer made a big thing about it being produced using only organic grains, spring water Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) and lactic acid bacteria. The difference in the flavour of the loaf was most notable. However it was expensive!

Next I tried the same brands organic instant yeast. The loaf flavour was just as good and as the fresh yeast they made and it was it was superior to the usual 'commercial' instant yeasts I had been using.

Beer brewers and Vintners have long known that the yeast used in fermentation makes all the difference. So it's not surprising that the same goes for bread.

For those not wanting to go down the full starter culture route: If I have no starter ready at the time I use 1/8th of the yeast needed in a recipe with 20% of the flour and an equal weight of the water. Mix it up and leave it on the side in the kitchen for twenty four hours before making the dough with it. For those using a bread machine use the starter mix and 1/2 of the yeast you would use in the recipe.

Anyone have opinions or thought on this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

in improving flavour so you are on the right track. 

cfraenkel's picture
cfraenkel

My cousin is a master brewer and he is forever going on about yeast strains, he gets all excited about certain ones because he knows that they make the beer taste different, so it is no surprise to me that it would make bread taste different too.  I am sure I could ask him and get an earful (but the last time I asked a question about diastatic malt it required a lot of hours of research to understand the chemistry he was explaining, so I think I may pass on that one!)  Welcome to TFL.

Stonebake's picture
Stonebake (not verified)

I can imagine! Chuckles.

I used to make home brew beer using the proper techniques and raw materials and almost went into the micro brewery business long before it became the thing it is today.

What the yeast is cultured on affects the flavours it produces quite markedly. For example it isn't possible to make a Guinness without having the Guiness yeast. So I would culture that from a bottle conditioned Guinness.

There was a beer in the Midlands (UK) where the yeast was cultured on apples and it gave some of that fruitiness to the final beer. The brewer told me that one of the curious attributes of yeast is that it seems to generate some of the flavours from the culture medium as if it has some sort of flavour memory.

So it seems that yeasts cultured on nutrient chems. might not be so clever.

Thinking about your brother I should be thankful that the brewer I spoke to didn't give me the chemistry lol

 Thanks for the welcome - appreciated.

 

jo_en's picture
jo_en

Thanks for this measure on the yeast (1/8 tsp). I recently stopped using a rye starter that I made due to a possible allergy to it.