Comments on: Yeast Primer

By: cooking lady65

cooking lady65 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:40:19 +0000

I would suggest going to the yeast mfg. Web sites and they explain all the differences of their yeast products. I’ve been making bread for many years and found their information really informative and helpful. For most of my regular breads I use the rapid rise yeast, when using it I always add it to my flour in my sponge and I make sure my liquids, be they water, milk or butter combinations, are always exactly at 125 to 130 degrees maximum, but in that range only as recommended,and it always comes out perfect. I use a candy thermometer for accuracy. After beating my sponge for about 3 to 5 minutes, I then add the rest of the flour and ingredients as the recipe calls for and after mixing well I cover it all in my mixer bowl with a towel, and let it rest for about 10 min. No drafts please. After the 10 min. Are up I continue and use my blenders hook to knead the bread for about 8 min. And now cover it with Saran wrap then a damp hot towel and place it in the cold oven or a large microwave to rise for one hour. Also another trick is to place hot water in cups or small containers or large if your bread is in the cold oven, the warm water helps your bread rise beautifully, then after it has risen enough, each bread recipe will be different, but once sufficiently risen with the use of rapid rise yeast, shape it into loaves or in loaf pans or braides or spirals or Mini loaves, as you wish, place back in oven or other warm draft free place and again all to rise to its fullest and use the hot water in cups or pans to help it rise again. When ready wash with beaten egg yolk and water or milk, beautiful. Happy happy baking to us all!

By: Marie LeFever

Marie LeFever — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:19:53 +0000

My recipe for a whole grain bread calls for 0.75 oz. Hodgson Active Dry Yeast comes in packets of 8.75g. How much of this packet will make .077 0z.? I do not have a scale. Thanks for the help.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:22:39 +0000

BJ’s sells 2 one pound vacuum packed packages of yeast bundled, which is how I buy it, since I use so much… it is Fleishman’s… I’m not sure which yeast, since once I open it, I put it in a separate container. I make all of our bread and baked goods from scratch, so I use a lot of yeast, and I use this same yeast for everything. Last time I bought yeast, 2 pounds ran somewhere around $6 (I’m in South Jersey), so that’s a lot cheaper than the $5 for a 4 ounce jar that I used to buy.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:44:14 +0000

Very helpful! Thanks.

By: Leaveners, a baker’s secret weapon « Jeremy’s Kitchen

Leaveners, a baker’s secret weapon « Jeremy’s Kitchen — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:32:49 +0000

[...] http://straightfromthefarm.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/yeast-primer/ has some informative information on yeast. [...]

By: eatyet

eatyet — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:47:17 +0000

i found them at Whole Foods Markets and they are on amazon.com too, but the shipping fees are steep.

By: Jennie

Jennie — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:39:45 +0000

Wow, EatYet, a whole pound of yeast?! I buy quarter pound bags on occasion but don’t think I’ve ever seen a whole pound. Nor am I familiar with the Saf brand. Must be some good stuff! Where do you get it?

By: eatyet

eatyet — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:22:11 +0000

i have been only using Saf-instant yeast (i believe this is only a dry active yeast and not rapid rise) after taking a bread making class 5 years ago. they only sell them in one pound bags, i store it in the fridge inside a zip lock bag and they last a whole year before they stop working.

By: Jennie

Jennie — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:35:41 +0000

Zoe – Are you leaving your dough sit overnight in the refrigerator? I’m curious as to what you mean by “long storage”. If that’s the case, then I’m sure there’s not much difference in the yeast types. Glad you enjoyed the post and I’ll have to look for your book.

By: Zoe Francois

Zoe Francois — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:33:54 +0000

Hi, this is fascinating. I am the co-author of a bread book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. We found absolutely no difference in any of the yeasts we tested in our method of bread baking. I believe it is because of the long storage our dough has, it seems to even out the differences in the effect of various yeasts.

Thanks for a great post!

Zoë Francois