To cut a long story short, use instant yeast. Conversion ratios from ATK vs ideas in food differ - 25% more to 100% more?
OK, both Peter Reinhart and ATK say 25%, so that it is.
See notes on hydrating instant yeast from P.R. Artisan breads every day.
105 degree temp
Yeast enhancers - Barley malt syrup. Citric acid.
Yeast retarders - salt. You can still put the yeast with the salt on a dry mix as long as you are making it quickly after.
Bread machine yeast is just instant in a different package.
Keeping it in the freezer.
In ARTISAN BAKING ACROSS AMERICA, Maggie Glezer says
for every 150gm (5.3oz, 1 cup) of flour in the recipe to use either of:
3 gm compressed fresh yeast (0.1 oz, 1/6 cake)
2 gm active dry yeast (0.05oz, 1/2 tsp)
1 gm instant active dry yeast (0.04oz, 3/8 tsp)
for those of you who have "the bread bible" the yeast conversion is on page 463
to convert fresh cake yeast to instant yeast, for 1 packed tablespoon/0.75 ounce cake yeast use 2 teaspoons instant yeast or 2-1/2 teaspoons active dry
1 teaspoon instant aka instant active dry=1-1/4 teaspoons active dry or 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh cake yeast
Want to use min yeast possible to allow the rise.
1 pkg = 7g or 1/4 oz
From: America's TEST KITCHEN
OVERVIEW: Despite indications to the contrary—created by the commercial largesse of the yeast companies—there are only three types of yeast: fresh, active dry, and instant. All are derived from the powerful brewer's yeast known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but each is processed from a slightly different strain of this protypical yeast.
Types
Fresh Yeast: The original commercial yeast, known as fresh, compressed, or cake yeast is about 70 percent water by weight and is composed of 100 percent living cells. It is soft and crumbly and requires no proofing—fresh yeast will dissolve if it is simply rubbed into sugar or dropped into warm liquid. Owing to qualities associated with its strain, fresh yeast will produce the most carbon dioxide of all three types of yeasts during fermentation. Fresh yeast is considered fast, potent, and reliable, but it has a drawback: it is highly perishable and must be refrigerated and used before its expiry date.
Active Dry: Active dry yeasts arrive at their granular state by undergoing processes that reduce them to 95 percent dry matter. Traditional active dry yeast is exposed to heat so high that many of its cells are destroyed in the process. Because the spent outer cells encapsulate living centers, active dry yeast must first be dissolved in a relatively hot liquid (proofed) to slough off dead cells and reach the living centers.
Instant Yeasts: Also called "Instant," "Rapid Rise," or "Bread" instant yeasts are also processed to 95 percent dry matter, but are subjected to a gentler drying process than active dry. As a result, every dried particle is living, or active. This means the yeast can be mixed directly with recipe ingredients without first being dissolved in water or proofed. It is in this context that the yeast is characterized as "instant." We prefer instant yeast in the test kitchen. It combines the potency of fresh yeast with the convenience of active dry, and it is considered by some to have a cleaner flavor than active dry because it contains no dead cells. (In our months of testing, we found this to be true when we made a lean baguette dough but could detect no difference in flavor when using the two yeasts in doughs made with milk, sugar, and butter.)
Substitution Formulas
To substitute active dry for instant (or rapid rise) yeast: Use 25 percent more active dry. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of instant yeast, use 1 1/4 teaspoons of active dry. And don't forget to "prove" the yeast, i.e. dissolving it in a portion of the water from the recipe, heated to 105 degrees.
To substitute instant (or rapid rise) yeast for active dry: Use about 25 percent less. For example if the recipe calls for 1 packet or 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast, use 1 3/4 teaspoons of instant yeast. And you do not need to prove the yeast, just add it to the dry ingredients.
To substitute fresh yeast for active dry yeast, use a ratio of roughly 2:1, i.e. use one small cake (0.6 ounce) of compressed fresh yeast in lieu of 1 packet (.25 ounces) of active dry yeast.
Note a packet of active dry or instant yeast contains about 2 1/4 teaspoons (.25 ounces) of yeast.
Donna Currie
The first yeasted breads were no doubt accidental, but records indicate that yeasted breads existed in ancient Egypt. Whether they were sourdoughs or a byproduct of beer-making isn't entirely clear. What is clear is that there were yeast-leavened breads long before anyone understood how it worked.
In the last 1700's, the Dutch started commercial sales of brewing yeast to be used in breadmaking, and in 1825 solid blocks were available after someone figured out how to remove most of the liquid. By 1872, granulated yeast became available.
Meanwhile in the US, wild yeasts were most commonly used until a commercial yeast was marketed by Charles Fleischmann in 1876. The Fleischmann company developed a granulated active dry yeast for the US military during WWII, and the Lesaffre company created instant yeast in the 1970s.
Today, home bakers have quite a number of options.
Sourdough has its fans. You can grow your own culture or buy a dried or fresh sourdough culture from a number of sources. But that discussion is for another day.
Sourdough Starter
Fresh compressed yeast is still available, but it getting harder to find. Some grocery stores sell individual cubes, or you might find larger blocks at specialty markets or buy some from a friendly bakery. One problem with fresh yeast is that it has an extremely short shelf-life, so there's no guarantee that the yeast you buy at a grocery store will be alive enough to use. When I buy larger quantities, I freeze the excess, with mixed results. I usually use about twice as much as I would have used if it would have been fresh, and I always have dry yeast on standby, just in case.
Fresh (from the freezer) Yeast
Active dry yeast is readily available in most grocery stores. The yeast pellets are made up of live yeast cells surrounded by dry cells and a growth medium, and most recipes require that active dry yeast be proofed first. Although I've never had much problem reviving active dry yeast, it does take a little time to dissolve, so proofing makes sense from that standpoint. It has a longer shelf life than other types of yeast, but some sources say it's more temperature-sensitive when in use.
NEW INFO: RED STAR active dry yeast does not have these large pellets - it has smaller pellets, similar to instant yeast (below) and can be mixed into the dough without first softening it in water. You can use it like instant yeast, but it has the lasting power of active dry yeast. It's my preferred yeast for most applications.
Active Dry Yeast
Instant yeast has smaller pellets than active dry yeast, and there are more live cells in comparison. Since it dissolves faster, it can be added directly to dough, but I often proof it anyway. If you bake a lot of sweet doughs, some manufacturers have a slightly different product that's designed for dough with a high sugar content.
Instant Yeast
Rapid-rise yeast is a variation of instant yeast and it also has small pellets. It dissolves quickly and produces carbon dioxide faster, so the bread rises faster. Whether that's useful depends on your need for fast bread. Some recipes for rapid-rise yeast suggest a first rise of only 10 minutes before shaping the dough for its final rise. If you're in a hurry, similar results can be achieved by letting the bread rise in a warmer location or by adding more yeast.
Bread machine yeast is also a rapid-rise yeast. When making bread with a bread machine, the yeast is mixed directly with dry ingredients, and depending on how adjustable the timing is on the machine, it might also need to rise very quickly. So, for bread machine users, this variation has a legitimate purpose. I'm not entirely sure if bread machine yeast is a different type of rapid rise, or if it's just a different label. I found Fleischmann's bread machine yeast in a jar and rapid rise in packages, and the ingredient list was the same, but there was no indication if the proportions were the same. The pellets seemed a slightly smaller than the instant yeast I had on hand, but that could vary by brand.
Bread Machine Yeast
Also in the rapid category is Pizza Crust Yeast, a new offering from Fleischmann's. This yeast is different. Or more accurately, I'm not sure if the yeast itself is different, but it includes dough improvers that make the dough more extensible and easier to roll. According to the package, there's no need to let the dough rise at all, it's just a matter of make and bake. The package also very clearly states that it's not intended for bread.
Platinum Yeast
It's part of the instant yeast family, and it's blended with yeast improvers that help make bread-baking a little more foolproof. Those improvers strengthen the dough so there's less risk it will collapse, and they give the dough a better oven spring - that rise you get when the bread is baking.
In theory, active dry, instant, and rapid-rise yeast each have their own specific uses. For example, active dry is better in breads where there will be two rises, while instant is better for single-rise recipes. In practice, however, you can adapt your recipes to fit the yeast you have, and you can adjust your technique to speed up or slow down the speed of the rise as needed.
Some sources say that active dry and instant yeast can be substituted 1:1, while others say that you should use 25 percent less instant yeast if you're substituting it for active dry in a recipe. In a perfect world and if all conditions remained constant, it would be wise to reduce the amount of yeast if you're using instant in a recipe that was written using active dry. But the speed of the rise is also affected by temperature - both the ambient temperature and that of the dough - and it also depends on how fresh your particular yeast is.
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Got yeast?
The thing to remember is that yeast is a living thing, and while it's active, it's reproducing. So no matter how much yeast you start with, you'll end up with a heck of a lot more before you kill it in the heat of the oven. You can start will less yeast, give it food and optimal temperatures, and you'll end up with more happy gassy yeast than if you started with more yeast and treated it badly. So while it's great that there are options for people who need them, if you've got the right technique, you don't absolutely have to stock multiple types of yeast.