Ask the Baker

Dear Baker: Yeast is not my friend. Are there any tricks to working with yeast?

Lisa, via Email

Dear Lisa: Don't worry. Yeast is my friend. He's cool. I'll introduce you.

Like every other single-celled organism, yeast has some pretty specific but simple needs: 1) Food 2) Warmth 3) Moisture. Not so different from you and me, no? Put it in an environment akin to the ones we thrive in, and you'll have happy lovely yeast cells multiplying as you wish. Easy, huh? Well, it gets a bit more complicated when you ask how much?

There are 3 types of yeast the home buyer can procure - 2 are very common, and the other is not so much. Active Dry Yeast and Instant Dry Yeast are available at most stores (the Fleichman's "Rapid Rise" yeast is their version on Instant Dry Yeast), but Fresh Yeast is a little harder to get. No matter - just use one of the first two. There's a misconception that fresh yeast is somehow better or more authentic, but the fact is that you CANNOT tell the difference in the final product, and fresh yeast has the tendency to be slightly inconsistent. Maybe that's only noticeable when you use lots of it every day, like bakeries do, but it definitely gets moldy faster. Active Dry Yeast is alright, but you have to activate it in warm water before you use it - and a lot of bakers that are trying to keep their dough temperatures lower tend to not like adding warm water to the mix.

For the record, you can get the same yeast we use, SAF Instant Red Yeast, at Whole Foods. It's very stable, you can add it to a mix without hydrating it, and it comes in cool little vacuum-packed bricks with a cute little baker on the front. See?

The interesting part arises when you realize that each one of these yeast forms has its own concentration. Active Dry yeast is approximately 2.5 times as powerful as Fresh; Instant dry is about 3 times as potent as Fresh; Active is about 1.2 times as powerful as Instant. Confusion reigns in the kitchen!

Here are the conversion rules. Look at what the recipe calls for, and what you have. Then do this:

FRESH to ACTIVE: Multiply by .4

FRESH to INSTANT: Multiply by .33

ACTIVE to INSTANT: Multiply by .83

To go the other way, just change "Multiply" to "Divide." Easy.

Keep your dough temperatures cool - between 75 and 80 degrees - and the yeast will be very happy. Now, just don't screw up the fermentation, pre-shaping, shaping, proofing, slashing, and baking, and all will be well.

Email your questions, baking or personal, to andy@ajkingbakery.com. By asking a question, you are begging to be put on the blog, so look out!