Kitchen Notes: Yeast, Part II

The type of bread yeast used depends marginally on the type of breads you are making and how controlled the environment is for bread making (bread machine vs oven). If you're not an avid baker, you are not going to know the difference between the types of yeast nor should you (there really is no difference, unless you need the yeast to ferment faster in a shorter span of time). Is it a noticeable difference in taste? Hmm, that'd be like comparing the taste differences in same flavor carbonated water of different brands where the mineral ratio of different water sources and final product pH are what makes the taste difference.

Did you know that the company that makes SAF also makes Red Star?

Types of Bread Yeast

• Active Dry Yeast (what I use in all these recipes) - requires warm water to activate
• Instant Yeast - does not need to be proofed before using; also known as Fast-Rising, Rapid-Rise, Quick Rise, or Bread Machine Yeast
• Fresh Yeast (this is exceptionally hard to find in the US) - same organism as the active dry or instant yeast and packaged in small bars or cake form; short shelf life
• Osmotolerant Yeast - specific to sweet doughs, such as cinnamon rolls, danishes, or brioche rolls; SAF Gold Instant Yeast

What about Nutritional Yeast? Well sorry, you can't use it like the aforementioned bread yeasts. This yeast is for eating. It's high in B-vitamins and is sometimes used as a flavor replacement for dairy cheese in some vegan recipes. It brings a savory taste to some dishes, such as popcorn-style (breaded and deep fried) cauliflower florets.

Brands of Yeast Commonly Found in the US:

• Red Star
• SAF
• Fleischmann's (typically in 3-pouch packets and 4-oz jars)

Additives in Yeast (and what they do):

• alpha-amylase (food enzyme that helps in processing starch)
• ascorbic acid (weakens the gluten in longer fermented breads, helps the dough relax and increases a faster rise); you'll know if a miller has added it to the flour because it'll be listed on the ingredient label (required by law)
• calcium sulphate (yeast food; also, this is Plaster of Paris)
• sorbitan monostearate (abbreviation SMS), or Span 60, is an emulsifier esterified from sorbitol and stearic acid with the European food additive

Examples of Yeast with Additives:

• SAF Red Instant Yeast: Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), sorbitan monostearate, ascorbic acid
• Hovis Yeast: Dried Yeast (92%),Stabiliser (Calcium Sulphate),Emulsifier (Sorbitan Monostearate),Flour Treatment Agents (Ascorbic Acid, Enzyme (Alpha Amylase)
• Red Star Organic Instant Dry Yeast: Organic Yeast, Ascorbic Acid. Contains: wheat
• SAF Gold Label instant yeast: Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), sorbitan monostearate, ascorbic acid

Uses:

• SAF Gold Instant Yeast for doughs with 10% or more by weight added sugar
• SAF Red Instant Yeast or Red Star Instant Dry Yeast for regular "lean" breads, less than 5% sugar
• Fresh yeast for a long, slow rising time

Alternatives to Commercial Bread Yeast:

• Barm, a beer-making byproduct from the 1st or 2nd fermentation stage that's usually tossed by the brewer; used extensively in pre-19th century cooking; learn how to do this at The Fresh Loaf, My Love of Baking, or Joe Pastry
• Wild Yeast, probably not going to happen in an urban environment or if you live in a downtown metropolitan area; useful in making a brewing starter, sourdough starter, or homemade natural sodas
• Make a wild yeast starter using juniper berries
• Fruits with wild yeast: juniper berries, elderberries, wild grapes, blueberries, figs, Oregon grape berries
• Substitution: per 1 tsp yeast = 0.5 tsp lemon juice and 0.5 tsp baking soda -- this produces a chemical reaction (carbon dioxide) in the dough that causes the bread to rise. You can use this in sweet breads (not offals) such as banana bread or a quick bread.

Kitchen Notes: Yeast, Part I - Active Dry Yeast

You may have noticed this year that not only did 5, 10, and 20 lb bags of all purpose flour (white and wheat, bleached and unbleached) flew off the grocery store, restaurant grocery outlet, and big box store shelves (e.g., Walmart, Costco), but also all types of bread yeast all but disappeared in the last three months. The last time I saw a brick of Red Star Yeast (active dry) at Costco was back in March. It reappeared briefly on Costco.com in late August this year, but has since then disappeared and never actually showed up on the shelves at my local Costco. Forget supermarkets, they have been out of yeast for months. I guess people are just going to be stuck with non-yeast recipes to use with all that flour. It isn't a bad thing. Recipes such as pancakes, crepes, scones, crackers, some flatbreads (spring onion pancakes), tortillas, cookies, etc., don't use yeast at all.

A reasonably priced 1.5 lb to 2.0 lb brick should cost you roughly $5 at Costco (versus $7-10 for that 4-oz jar at the grocery store), or between $7-10/brick at an online retailer who sells to consumers, such as King Arthur Flour; though, you might not appreciate the minimum $69 order at KAF to qualify for free shipping. And, forget about ordering via Amazon. Who knows how old that stuff is or how it was stored.

Stop buying those 3-pocket packages and 4 oz jars of yeast from the grocery store. If you bake a lot of yeasted items (or brew a lot of ginger beer), you're better off cost-wise to buy a yeast brick. It's called a brick because of how the yeast is packaged. It's vacuum sealed and has a dry shelf life of 2 years.. or longer after you open it if you do the following:

• store in a freezer-safe freezer jar in the freezer (bring up to room temp before using)
• store in a glass jar in the refrigerator, use as needed

I am still using active dry yeast that I bought that had originally expired (according to its manufacturing label) in 2016. But, while I'm an avid baker, I do not make yeasted bread items on a regular basis.

You might have noticed that hardly anyone touched the gluten-free flours or already made gluten-free breads at both the grocery and big box supermarkets, or the bulk retailers. That is probably because all that gluten-free nonsense is just that.. marketing nonsense. Though, it's estimated that there are 18 million Americans with gluten sensitivity.