How to Bake With Dry, Instant or Fresh Yeast (2024)

FAQs

How to Bake With Dry, Instant or Fresh Yeast? ›

These two types of yeast are interchangeable in recipes, but remember that you need to use twice as much fresh yeast (by weight) than dry. Therefore, if a recipe asks for 7g dried yeast you will need to use 14g of fresh or compressed yeast and vice versa.

Instant yeast, as its name implies, is the quickest yeast to use of the three. Fresh yeast will give you a deeper, richer, more 'yeasty' flavour. Not all yeasts can be used in bread makers: fresh and instant can be but active dried yeast cannot. Instant yeast is the most common yeast to use in a bread maker.

ACTIVE DRY YEAST is best for artisan or no knead doughs that proof in the refrigerator for extended periods of time. Don't skip the “proof” step. INSTANT YEAST is best for quick rising breads.

Active dry and instant yeasts can be substituted for one another at a 1:1 ratio. Active dry yeast will take about 15 to 20 minutes longer to rise than instant yeast. To encourage active dry yeast to start its activity without having to proof, just use very warm water in your dough mixture (120-130°F).

Mix instant yeast with your flour and other dough ingredients; there's no need to dissolve it in warm water or another liquid first, as you might with active dry or other yeasts that need to be proofed (i.e., dissolved to ensure they're alive). That's one less step to take; 10 minutes proofing time saved.

These two types of yeast are interchangeable in recipes, but remember that you need to use twice as much fresh yeast (by weight) than dry. Therefore, if a recipe asks for 7g dried yeast you will need to use 14g of fresh or compressed yeast and vice versa.

One time when you might not want to use instant and active dry yeasts interchangeably is when you're baking bread in a bread machine. Since bread machines use a higher temperature to raise dough, substituting instant for active dry yeast 1:1 may cause bread to over-rise, then collapse.

Additionally we want to tell you some disadvantages of using instant dry yeast that make fresh yeast your best choice: Instant dry yeast is not easily distributed in the dough. The instant dry yeast must be placed at the beginning of kneading.

The Very Best: Instant Yeast

Instant yeast is the only yeast I ever use in my baking. Always have and always will. The yeast of choice in most restaurant kitchens and commercial bakeries, it's easy and convenient.

If a recipe using instant yeast calls for the dough to “double in size, about 1 hour,” you may want to mentally add 15 to 20 minutes to this time if you're using active dry yeast.

How do I substitute instant yeast for active yeast? ›

To use instant yeast in place of active dry, skip the step of dissolving the yeast in liquid and add it directly to your dough. You should add the water or other liquid that was meant for activating to your liquid ingredients, so you're retaining the same total amount of liquid.

Instant yeast vs.

Conversely, if you want the active dry yeast to instant yeast conversion, you'll need to divide by 1.5, which is equivalent to multiplying the active dry yeast quantity by ²/₃. So, for example, if the recipe calls for 4 tbsp of instant yeast, you will need 4 × 1.5 = 6 tbsp of active dry yeast.

Fresh yeast, also known as cake yeast (because it is pressed into a cake or block) or compressed yeast, is a lovely product. It enhances baked goods with a subtle yeasty, flowery aroma that dry yeast does not. It might respond a bit quicker than active dry yeast, but the difference is minimal.

To convert from fresh yeast to active dry yeast, multiply the fresh quantity by 0.4. Active dry yeast must be hydrated in warm water before being incorporated into a dough.

With instant yeast, you can skip the activation in water/sugar and directly add the yeast to the dry ingredients in your recipe (e.g., flour, etc.). Once you mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients in the recipe, the instant yeast will activate.

According to Jordan, fresh yeast lends a slightly sweeter, richer flavor to baked goods compared to dry yeast. One downside, though, is its short shelf life: Unlike dry yeast, it's highly perishable and must be stored in the refrigerator. Even then, it usually only lasts about a week or two — opened or unopened.

Fresh yeast, sometimes called cake yeast or compressed yeast, is a block of fresh yeast cells that contains about 70% moisture and is commonly used by baking professionals. It's pale beige in color, soft and crumbly with a texture similar to a soft pencil eraser, and has a stronger yeast smell than dry yeast.

Fresh yeast is much stronger in flavor than the dried varieties, and bakers prefer it for sweeter recipes. If you're subbing it into a recipe, we recommend using roughly 70% more fresh yeast versus instant yeast, or around 60% more than active dry yeast.