Yeast problem

[Andy M.]

I wish I could learn to bake!

Your wish is granted. You CAN learn to bake. Now get started.

 

[Addie]

I wish I could learn to bake!

You can. Through reading, trial and error, reading and reading some more. Just remember to follow the recipes until you feel secure in your abilities.

 

[Mad Cook]

Hi I am more of a curry maker but want to dabble in other things. Having successfully made banana cake I thought of Jam doughnuts. I have a sealed tin of Allisons Dry active yeast. The recipe calls for "7g sachet dried fast action yeast " is this the same?

Also I bought this a long time ago. It is still sealed and states on bottom of tin "BBE 01-2014"

Can I still use this as it has not been opened

TIA

Desmond

Desmond,

I'm a long-term breadmaker (about 50 years) and dabble in other yeast cookery and use Allinsons dried yeast and the fast action stuff - whichever is more convenient at the time.

Allinson's and dried fast action yeast are interchangeable as far as quantity is concerned. 7g is approximately a level teaspoon of Allinsons.

However, the fast action stuff goes directly into the mix without any need to re-activate it whereas the Allinsons will need re-activating. This isn't a problem or difficult. All you do is follow the instructions on the tin. If you do that first, before organising the other ingredients and your baking tin or sheet, you will find it has frothed up nicely and is ready to use by the time you're ready for it. The time depends a bit on the warmth of your kitchen.

Don't be fooled by one or two television cooks who have been advocating the use of cold water in yeast cookery. You need the recipe's liquid ingredients to be warm (not hot) for an easy and successful result. I usually work on one part boiling water to two parts cold - if you can hold your finger in it comfortably it's about right. To hot and it will kill the yeast and too cold and the yeast will take forever to act if it acts at all.

As for the date - "BBE 01-2014" means "Best Before the End of January 2014" so you are ok to use it. "Best Before" means precisely that and you'll probably be OK with it for a while. It doesn't mean it will keep forever but it won't instantly go bad. Once opened I keep it in the 'fridge in a sealed container.

Yeast cookery is great fun and the results are yummy.

MC

 

[Mad Cook]

Ok. Thanks for that. I was amused about it stating that it was active is there any other sort? as for fast is there a slow and were would you use it?

Thanks again.

This amused me no end. It's almost word for word what Elizabeth David wrote in her book "English Bread and Yeast Cookery" (which I can't recommend highly enough if you are interested in the subject.

 

[Addie]

One time my store didn't have the dry yeast. So I got the Rapid Rise. I was not happy with the results. So the next time I went to use it, I proofed it in warm water and it bloomed just like the dry yeast does. Much better results. I still like the dry yeast better. I am more familiar with that. So that is what I will stick with.

 

[Mad Cook]

I find this interesting information. I've been making all our household's bread products for most of my life and have only, except in the early days, used active dry yeast...for every application. Bread machine or not. Plus, I've never hydrated my yeast before using it, with the minor exception if I'm not sure how old my yeast is. That, too, usually isn't a problem because I use it up so quickly.

I buy yeast in one-pound vacuum-sealed packages. When I open one, the yeast goes immediately into a glass jar with a tightly-sealing lid and into the freezer. Annually, I estimate we use about 4 pounds of yeast. But that's a conservative estimate.

I mentioned the "early days," which is when I used the cake yeast, found in the refrigerated section of my markets. Now, it's nearly impossible to find it in my region and when I see it, it's outrageously expensive. About $1.50 per cake. I can buy a LOT of dry yeast for several of those cakes. Plus, I've noticed that the three-section packs of dry yeast are pretty pricey as well.

My brother, who is an awesome cook and baker, swears he can't make any yeast goods using dry yeast. Claims he can't get it to rise. I've walked him through all sorts of steps and he still insists the dry won't work for him. As a result, last Christmas I gave him a half dozen cakes of yeast as a present.

By now, I've memorized the equivalent of a packet of dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons) so I can use my bulk yeast just as easily as a packet or a fraction of a packet if I'm reducing a recipe.

Unfortunately, in the UK we went through a period when it was quite difficult to obtain fresh yeast. I used to have to go and beg to buy an ounce from the local baker. Supermarkets looked at you as if you were mad - "You want to make BREAD?". Why would you want to when they sold wonderful factory-made sliced bread wrapped in polythene bags? (Because yours tastes and feels like old flannel, that's why!)

I do use fresh yeast when I remember to buy it (most supermarkets stock it these days) but I find Allinsons dried yeast or the sachets of "instant" ie "fast acting " dried yeast are equally good (or in some cases better) and are a useful store cupboard standby. No need to be snobby about it. Depending on how long the supermarket has had the fresh yeast in stock and how it's been stored fresh yeast can, if you are unlucky, be unreliable.

 

[Mad Cook]

I wish I could learn to bake!

Can you read? Then you can bake. Forget the complicated and look for cookery writers such as Delia Smith whose book on baking cakes has all you need to know to get started, or Mary Berry, both of whom are really good for the beginner and the experienced baker.

The hardest bit is when picking up the bag of flour for the first time.

Onwards and upwards.

 

[Addie]

Can you read? Then you can bake. Forget the complicated and look for cookery writers such as Delia Smith whose book on baking cakes has all you need to know to get started, or Mary Berry, both of whom are really good for the beginner and the experienced baker.

The hardest bit is when picking up the bag of flour for the first time.

Onwards and upwards.

Well if he wants to start out small, we sell the two pound bag of AP flour here. Like just enough muffins for morning coffee? So simple to make. So get busy. I want to hear and see pictures of that first success.