Hi All,
There has been some wonderful discussion of the differences between European flour and American flour. I am trying to adapt a German recipe that calls for fresh yeast. In Germany fresh yeast comes in 42 gram blocks. Fleischmann’s Fresh Active Yeast at my local grocer here in California comes in 17gram blocks. It has a very similar physical consistency to the fresh yeast I was using in Germany but I‘d love to know if the fresh yeast cakes are of the same concentration. I‘d rather not just add just a wee bit too much yeast.
Does anyone have insight into this?
Use the same - see what happens - go from there. Enjoy!
For what it's worth, many years ago, I used Fleischmann’s Fresh Active Yeast or fresh yeast I got from a local bakery ( in one pound blocks) in some Polish recipes and I can't say I noticed much of a difference. Like you, I observed that the yeast looked and felt pretty much the same as the one I remember form Poland. If you can compare the nutrition labels, maybe there would be some clues? I haven't used fresh yeast in many years because:
a) it has become difficult to find fresh yeast in the small packets
b) I could never use all of the big block from the bakery before it went bad so had to throw it out; and
c) I couldn't tell the difference between fresh and dry.
If I see a recipe calling for fresh yeast I just convert to instant dry (SAF Gold nowadays) by dividing the weight by 3.