Comments on: Bread Making: Meet the Yeast

By: Simple Pizza Crust

Simple Pizza Crust — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:22:07 +0000

[...] 1 TBSP active dry yeast [...]

By: dcrmom

dcrmom — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:11:54 +0000

This is great. I’m so intimidated by using yeast. But with this information, maybe I’ll be a little more daring! After all, there’s NOTHING like fresh baked breads. YUM.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:06:47 +0000

I’m rather careless about what kind of yeast I have and how long it’s been in the freezer. I just grab a bag at whatever bulk food section I happen to be close to (a lot of stores in my area have bulk food) and throw it in the freezer. I make bread about 1-2 times/month and have been doing that for about 6 years. I don’t *think* I’ve ever had a batch fail due to misused yeast (other reasons, yes).
I especially appreciated the definitions of the different kinds of yeast. Haven’t come across that information before at all! Thanks, Heather.

By: Fawn

Fawn — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:31:38 +0000

I did a yeast test this weekend because of a failed batch of pizza dough. It turns out that I’d forgotten you have to use LUKEWARM water in the bread machine – oops! Second batch turned out perfectly.

Here’s the “recipe” for the test suggested by the bread machine book:

1 cup of lukewarm water
1 tbsp of sugar
2 tsp of yeast

Dissolve sugar in water. Sprinkle yeast on top (it will sink) and put somewhere warm (I used the oven) for 10 minutes. You should get a good layer of foam on the water and a strong yeast smell.

This seems to use a up lot of yeast just for testing, but I figured that if the yeast was expired, I wouldn’t be wasting it, anyway. I just wanted to point out that the foaming doesn’t start right away.

By: Makeshift Mama

Makeshift Mama — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:04:42 +0000

I am SO bookmarking this page! It’s about time someone explained the great mystery that is yeast. Every time I think about attempting homemade bread, I get scared of my yeast and change my mind…

Thanks for the valuable info, and thanks for visiting me over at Makeshift Mama!

By: jim voorhies

jim voorhies — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:48:58 +0000

I echo the don’t buy too much yeast idea (for exactly the same reason). Fresh home-made bread tastes so much better but it takes time to make. When you first start out, it can be so much fun that you overstock. Remember that if you buy the supplies at a bulk store, you also paid less and you’re not losing as much when you have to throw it out. Nothing is of less use in baking than dead yeast.