Questions tagged [yeast]

Yeast is a one-celled organism that provides the leavening (rise) to breads. It is usually sold dry, in small granules, and must be activated with water and heat. Yeast is also used to ferment wine and beer: it consumes sugar, and produces alcohol as a byproduct.

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Can't get rid of alcohol smell in my sourdough starter

I made my first sourdough starter around 3 weeks ago. I made it with spelt flour. It was nice and ready after a 7 or 10 days and had really nice yeast smell. I had to leave town for 4 days and let my ...
Lebesgue's user avatar
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Should instant yeast be room temperature when used?

Should instant yeast be at room temperature when used to make bread? I store mine in the freezer but I was wondering if it should be allowed to warm up a little before use.
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Difference between letting yeast dough rise cold and slowly or warm and quickly

Some yeast dough recipes call for storing the dough in a cold place overnight (and usually more rising steps); others ask for keeping it warm for a shorter period of time. It is clear that the yeast ...
Peter - Reinstate Monica's user avatar
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2 answers
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Too much yeast and collapsing

Assume a no-knead focaccia with 1.33% dry instant yeast and 100% hydration has a bulk fermentation of 2/3 hours at room temperature. Then it's spread on a dish, let rise for about another hour, and ...
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Can I still use poolish which has quadrupled in volume?

I was making poolish for pizza dough but accidentally left it out too long. It quadrupled in height before I stuck it in the fridge. Can I still use it or can I salvage it in a different way?
Matthijs P's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
229 views

What effect does fat and sugar have on homemade bread?

I have been experimenting lately with different bread making techniques, particularly sandwich bread or 'Pain de Mie'. This differs from the previous recipes that have yeast, water, sugar, fats and ...
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2 votes
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Recently purchased yeast gave dinner rolls weird smell and taste

I purchased a new package of yeast. It's a about a 2x2x3 inch vacuum packed brick of granulated yeast for baking. I've purchased and used it twice before without a problem. It's always had normal ...
Brian's user avatar
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What’s the actual difference between soy sauce and miso?

To me, it seems like they are both just fermented soy beans, with the result being mostly glutamate with a bad smell. Soy sauce seems to be just the water that miso was left to steep in.
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Does yeast lose strength over time?

I make bread about 2-3 times a week (all the bread we eat) and get yeast in a small jar (Fleischmann's), kept refrigerated. For a mid sized bread, I use 5/8 teaspoon of yeast. However, I have noticed ...
amphibient's user avatar
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Freezing raw pizza

I'm preparing two pizza, one for immediate consumption and the other one I want to freeze so it can be eaten next week. Is it OK if I freeze raw pizza I.e. raw dough with all the ingredients? Or ...
Piotr Golacki's user avatar
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What proportion of the natural yeast in Sourdough comes from the flour?

Inspired by this question... when making a sourdough starter or similar, does the flour contribute a significant amount of yeast to the final product [either from the flour's origins in the fields, or ...
Joe M's user avatar
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Why use a poolish and dry yeast?

I'm in the process of trying a new pizza dough recipe that calls for a poolish (equal weights flour and water, with a small amount of dry yeast, left at room temperature overnight), as well as dry ...
leremjs's user avatar
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19 votes
3 answers
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Does flour have yeast?

This feels like it should be an easy question to find an answer to, but all I'm finding are unreliable sources saying both yes and no. I'm referring specifically to any kind of store-bought flour used ...
DukeSilver's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
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Can I add new yeast to a dough I made with dead yeast?

I prepared bread dough that didn't rise. I then tested the yeast I used and apperantly they are dead. I bought new yeast and I still have the dough in the fridge. Can I mix in the new yeast to the ...
SIMEL's user avatar
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My grandmother's recipe for cookies from the 50s or 60s calls for a 5 cent cake of yeast. How many ounces is a 5 cent yeast cake?

I have my grandmother's recipe for cookies, from the 50s or 60s, it calls for a 5 cent cake of yeast. How many ounces is a 5 cent yeast cake?
Joan's user avatar
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What's the purpose to use milk together with yogurt for a yeast dough?

I've seen some recipes which suggest using yogurt together with a milk while making a yeast dough, staying silent about the actual purpose of doing so. As for me, such dough isn't well-balanced. Can ...
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Kimchi white fermentation covering

It looks like I've developed some nonharmful "kham yeast" on my kimchi ferment. I've looked online and I'm confident this is not dangerous, but I'm not sure if it is a good sign either. ...
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Can I make ginger bug from existing ginger beer, or from ginger beer yeast?

I was having trouble getting a ginger bug started from wild cultures, so I went ahead and bought a small amount of 'Ginger Beer Yeast'. I was hoping to get a more successful Ginger Bug started, either ...
Jww's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
300 views

Crack at the bottom of bread

During the last weeks I have repeatedly failed to get a decent bread out of the oven and most of them shared a prominent characteristic: a crack or tear at the bottom as shown (image shows the ...
johnny7's user avatar
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13 votes
2 answers
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Some instant yeast went into my sourdough starter

This is how it all began, I have a 100% rye starter for about a year now. I used a spoon that had some other dough on it, that dough was from a bag of flour that had mentioned at the bottom of the ...
Pinch's user avatar
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What is the point of a "Friendship Bread" starter?

Recently I started a "Starter" for Friendship Bread with some active (non wild) yeast. I thought it would be a good way to keep an active culture of yeast around in general and get some nice ...
QueueHammer's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
247 views

Is it okay to feed milk powder to sourdough starter?

I'm still new to bread making and I was wondering if adding some milk powder when I feed my starter would have a negative impact since milk is slightly more acidic than flour.
Liz's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
578 views

How does no-knead bread not overproof?

Most sourdough instructions warn not to overextend primary fermentation, as doing so will exhaust the yeast's food supply for proving after shaping. Standard sourdough recipes call for a 3-4 hour bulk ...
lerner's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
468 views

White bread without the "yeasty" or "bready" flavor

I'm trying to recreate a very specific brand of white bread from my parents' hometown, which isn't available outside about a 60-mile radius since the bakery doesn't use preservatives. But it's DANG ...
thatgirldm's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
321 views

White cloud of foam while fermenting tepache

I have lately tried to ferment tepache, for the firs time. The first stage went well, after three days there were white bubbles, it tasted less sugary and a bit yeasty. When I bottled it for the ...
Sam's user avatar
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1 answer
404 views

white spots on top of indian pickle

I hav made carrot pickle in lemon juice 15 days ago . some white spots are formed on the top of the pickle and at the sides of the glass jar. Is the pickle safe to consume ?
Ramkrishna Maheta's user avatar
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2 answers
591 views

Focaccia dough perhaps not able to get at room temp before baking

The classical Focaccia Genovese proofs three times. First in bulk (right after partition if making more than one) Then flattened and topped with coarse salt in order not to let a film form that would ...
David P's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
159 views

What happened to my frozen yeast?

I had a leftover block of commercially bought frozen yeast. I kept it it the freezer, well below 0 celsius. I'll admit I didn't check on it for years. I opened the container today. It was stinking ...
Jeffrey's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
411 views

3 day old sourdough starter splits after feeding

My starter consists out of 150gr All purpose, 60 grams of whole wheat and 210 grams of water. On day 2 it bubbled nicely, but I fed it only with half a feeding fearing it would otherwise not stay ...
David's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why does mixing the salt and yeast sometimes work?

I've always learned that DO NOT mix salt with yeast. Because the salt kills the yeast, and the sugar actually helps. You should always put the salt. So what is the "magic" of this recipe (...
Pichi Wuana's user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
1k views

How to make savoury brioche bread

I know the original brioche recipe is supposed to be slightly sweet, but I really enjoy a brioche hamburger bun that one of my local bakeries does and it's really savoury. I tried making brioche ...
rschpdr's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is this layer on top of my fermented peppers mold? If it is not, is it still safe to eat?

I'm fermenting my home grown scotch bonnets, and I'm concerned that they're molding and are no longer edible. My setup was an open container, with a relatively high salt to water concentration (I don'...
jeffrey.d.m's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
2k views

Bread dough flattens during final proof & almost no oven spring

Since several weeks I'm trying to get my bread to rising more in the oven. I experimented quite a bit but the results are still far from perfect. Everything goes fine until the shaping of the loaf. ...
Creepsy's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
579 views

What are the most yeasty fruits sold in supermarkets suitable for providing yeast for making bread?

Various fresh fruits, such as grapes, apricots, and dates, can be used to provide the yeast that is needed in breadmaking. But often in commercial production fruits are sprayed with pesticides, and ...
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10 votes
1 answer
1k views

Can I freeze cinnamon buns in unbaked roll form

We’re traveling with friends and wanted to make cinnamon buns. I feel the most convenient approach would be to freeze the entire roll, then cut it while frozen when we arrive, then letting it rise. ...
AlexMA's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
155 views

Is my wild yeast starter a throwaway or salvageable?

I followed this YouTube video to make a wild yeast starter. My intention is to use them for making bread, hamburger buns, and maybe even try them out in a 1-gallon experimental homebrew! The TLDR; of ...
hotmeatballsoup's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
118 views

Is there a way predict proving times of dough (without experience)?

I make homemade pizza dough and other breads and baked goods quite regularly, but only have started to do so recently. One of the issues I have run into is that recipes always come with their own ...
Plutian's user avatar
  • 466
2 votes
1 answer
227 views

Yeast in Poolish

I have two different recipes for poolish with equal parts of bread flour and water. One calls for 1/2 tsp. of yeast and the other only calls for 1/4 tsp. Which amount should I use to make artisan ...
user94915's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
655 views

What does yeast do to flour?

Does yeast overtake flour? if yes then does it become protein from carbs? When we start with 100% flour does it become 70% flour 30% yeast germs after fully fermented dough?
Amit's user avatar
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12 votes
5 answers
3k views

What kind of yeast is this?

I have a type of yeast that I'm finding hard to identify by English standard. These are picture of it: Whole, uncut. cut in half In my country, Bulgaria, we call it "live" yeast, despite ...
mummy's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
307 views

Effect of ethanol concentration on bread flavor

What is the effect of ethanol concentration on bread flavor? According to this stackexchange post the majority of the ethanol produced by yeast evaporates during baking, so in theory the ethanol ...
lerner's user avatar
  • 53
0 votes
1 answer
292 views

Why is my bread dough rising this quickly?

I've been making Jim Lahey's no-knead bread pretty much since the recipe first appeared in the New York Times. In the last year or so, I've noticed a strange phenomenon: the recipe says to let the ...
crmdgn's user avatar
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12 votes
3 answers
3k views

Converting bread recipes for an overnight rise?

I often find myself with an urge to bake things in the evening, but without enough hungry mouths left to justify actually producing anything substantial by the time the recipe is done. As such, it'd ...
RavenclawPrefect's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
403 views

Using osmotolerant yeast in regular bread

After the demise of my sourdough starter, I've decided to switch to instant yeast, and am trying to decide which to buy. Specifically, I'm comparing Saf-Instant Red and Saf-Instant Gold. The former is ...
Abe Karplus's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
234 views

Do yeast pancakes contain alcohol?

I fed my 2 year old pancakes that required yeast: yeast, mashed banana, warm water, whole wheat and buckwheat flour, and salt. I left the batch in the fridge overnight, and in the morning added a ...
curiousv 's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
672 views

Why is a pig-skin like substance floating on top of my vinegar?

Apologies if this is off-topic. Every year, I make about 25 litres of cider vinegar. I wash the apples in a bucket of tap water, press them, add a sachet of yeast and leave the fermenting vessel in ...
user3574603's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
341 views

Yeast in sausage

Apparently people (esp the British) use rusk in making fresh sausage rather than breadcrumbs because it's a "yeastless bread". The yeast is meant to be bad for the sausage. However: When I ...
lunix's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
394 views

What is the purpose of adding baking powder to a recipe that contains yeast?

Example, this recipe: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/recipe-traditional-cypriot-tahini-pies/article25201735/ In addition to yeast it calls for a small amount of baking ...
the real deal's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
172 views

Reason(s) for poor bread results

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to be gifted a standing mixer. My first project was James Beard's white bread. The end characteristics that I wish to improve on were: When attempting to de-...
Jason P Sallinger's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
94 views

Rye bread in bread machine - crust very rough on top

This is what I'm using for my rye bread in the bread machine. Overall it's tasty and rises okay, but the top sinks a little bit, and is really rough. 1 ⅓ warmish water 1.5 cups regular flour 1.5 ...
Sylvia's user avatar
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