How to Pick the Right Yeast for the Job (2024)

FAQs

What yeast do professional bakers use? ›

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.

The Very Best: Instant Yeast

Always have and always will. The yeast of choice in most restaurant kitchens and commercial bakeries, it's easy and convenient.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also known as brewer's or baker's yeast, has been a key ingredient in baking, winemaking, and brewing for millennia. It derives its name from the Latinized Greek meaning “sugar fungus” because it converts sugars and starches into alcohol and carbon dioxide during the fermentation process.

There are three main types of commercially produced baker's yeast: active dry, instant, and fresh. All of them will work to leaven doughs in any given yeasted baking recipe, but each has slightly different properties, and, for the more discerning palate, varying flavors.

There are several features to consider in choosing a strain. These include flocculation, flavor and aroma characteristics, production of fermentation byproducts, attenuation, rate of fermentation, style appropriateness and, above all, the brewer's experience with the strain.

Cons: Sensitivity to Temperature: Instant yeast is sensitive to temperature, and it can die if exposed to temperatures that are too high or too low. Over-proofing: It works quickly therefore it can easily be over-proof if left to rise for too long.

Active dry yeast is slower to rise than instant yeast, but if your recipe calls for a long rise time (two to three hours), the outcome will be the same. If your recipe has a shorter rise time (such as an hour), add an extra 15 to 20 minutes for the active dry yeast to do its work.

After awhile, if stored improperly, yeast cells will die. And if you use dead (or dying) yeast in your bread, it won't rise. Another reason yeast might not work—you may have killed it by using overly hot water in your recipe; water hotter than 139°F will kill yeast.

Instant yeast

I find that it is less expensive (per ounce), works faster, and is the most reliable. You do not have to proof or dissolve the yeast in liquid, and it comes in smaller granules than active dry yeast.

Yeast is a living thing, which means that all yeast expires at some point. All yeast has an expiration date, but yeast will expire sooner if not stored properly. Properly stored yeast may last for up to four months beyond the expiration date. Improperly stored yeast may not make it to its expiration date.

What is the rule of yeast in baking? ›

A good rule of thumb: if it's too hot to touch, it's too hot for the yeast. Yeast is also effective in cooler temperatures, but it requires more time to expand the dough. Some bakers prefer a slower rise time because more flavor is produced in the process.

When it comes to baking bread at home, most recipes call for active dry yeast. This type of yeast comes out of the package looking like small, tan granules roughly the size of poppy seeds. In this state, the yeast has a long shelf life so long as it's kept in a cool, dry place.

Straight to the Point

The most shelf-stable and reliable type of yeast is instant yeast, and our favorite brands are SAF Red Label and Dr. Oetker.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast commonly used as baker's yeast. Gradation marks are 1 μm apart. The use of steamed or boiled potatoes, water from potato boiling, or sugar in a bread dough provides food for the growth of yeasts; however, too much sugar will dehydrate them.

Leavened bread is made via two main processes. The first is the addition of commercial baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to dough. This yeast comes from pure cultures bought (or more rarely maintained) by bakers and bakeries.

The most shelf-stable and reliable type of yeast is instant yeast, and our favorite brands are SAF Red Label and Dr. Oetker. Dry yeast is one of the miracles of modern baking—a free-flowing granular powder made from millions upon millions of dehydrated single-celled organisms.

Professionally, fresh yeast is always preferred and is exclusively used in France. Here anyone can buy fresh yeast in a supermarket or even in most bakeries.