As Cambria can attest, there are few things more disappointing than anticipating a warm slice of fresh-baked bread only to realize halfway through the recipe that your yeast is kaput. No tears, my friends! Yeast can be a tricky little scamp, but it need not be your foe.
Active dry yeast and instant (or rapid-rise) yeast are the two most common yeasts available to us as home bakers. The two yeasts can be used interchangeably in recipes, but active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in water before using while instant yeast can be mixed right into the dough.
Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer baking with active dry yeast. Dissolving the yeast in whatever liquid is being used in the recipe only takes an extra minute or two, and I like to know that my yeast has completely dissolved and is ready to go.
• Check Yeast By Dissolving It with Sugar: If you'd like some extra yeast insurance or suspect that your yeast may be a little old, there's an easy way to make sure it's still active. Measure out the liquid (room temperature or lukewarm!) for your recipe and pour about a half-cup of it into a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar over the top, give it a stir, and let it stand for a few minutes. If the yeast is still active, it will dissolve completely into the water and the liquid will start bubbling.
→ I check the yeast with every recipe as a habit. Better to spend a few minutes to check the yeast at the beginning than make bread that doesn't rise.
• Keep Rising Dough Warm: Yeast works best at temperatures between 70°F and 80°F. If your house is cool in the winter, place the bowl somewhere warmer, like the top of a fridge or in a warm (but turned off!) oven. If you put the dough on a heater to rise, insulate the bottom of the bowl with a few fluffy towels. If your house is very warm, the dough may rise more quickly than expected.
• Butter, Eggs, Milk, and Sugar Slow Down Yeast Activity: If you're making a bread with a lot of these ingredients, the bread may rise more slowly or not quite as much as usual. There's nothing wrong with the bread or your yeast; recipes for rich breads like cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, and Christmas braids just require patience.
• Store Unused Yeast in the Freezer: Freezing yeast will put it on pause and extend its active lifespan long past the expiration date. Seal the yeast in an airtight container before freezing.
Above all else when working with yeast, just remember that it's a living thing. There are conditions that help it thrive and conditions that slow it down. Treat it kindly and make it comfy, and you'll be turning out beautiful rolls and loaves in no time.
What are your best tips for working with yeast?
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As a living thing, yeast requires warmth, moisture and food (in the form of that pinch of sugar). I also like to test my yeast and only use active dry yeast.
I have tried both dried (not sure of the type) and fresh cake yeast. I prefer fresh cake yeast for several reasons:
Fresh tastes better to me (your tastebuds may not notice the difference).
Here in Germany, I can get cakes of fresh yeast for less than one fifth the cost of packets of dried yeast. One cake (42 grams = 1-1/2 ounces) can be divided into two, so that I get two batches of two loaves (1/2 cake today makes two loaves, and I still have the other half-cake for the next baking session). I am under the impression that one packet of dried yeast is intended for one baking session. Or can you use some out of the packet today and save the rest for later? It still looks to me that fresh is MUCH cheaper (if a whole cake is 1/5 the cost of a packet of dried, then a half-cake is 1/10 the cost).
I store the cakes in the freezer, each half-cake wrapped in aluminum foil. They last a loooong time this way.
I toss a frozen half-cake into the desired amount of warm water with a little sugar, whisk it until it's dissolved, let it proof for at least 15 minutes in a warm oven while I get the other ingredients together, and it's ready to go. Fresh yeast is very happy in my 50°C (120°F) oven. I am under the impression that dried yeast prefers to rise at a lower temperature. The dough rises fairly quickly (45 minutes for the first rise in the large bowl, much faster for the second rise in the glass bread pans).
I have been baking gluten-free for the last 15 years, but I had similar results when I used to bake with wheat flour.
I've learned to adjust my ratios since I started using SAF Instant Yeast (use about 75% instant to the "active dry" amount called for in most recipes) - when I was using a 1:1 ratio, my breads weren't performing how I expected. This is a good conversion table to use: http://www.theartisan.net/convert_yeast_two.htm
Maybe using the same brand (say, Fleischmann's Instant vs. Active Dry) doesn't require any adjustment, but ever since I reduced the amount of instant yeast everything is working just fine.
One additional note: for new yeast users (I remember my first time using yeast... scary!), the King Arthur Flour website is *such* a great resource. Their "Baking Circle" community is the best - and most of their recipes link to the Circle, where people write in to talk about their problems/successes with that particular recipe. You can even give them a call and talk to an expert... talk about customer service. (and no, I don't work for them) :-)
If you keep yeast in the freezer make sure it isn't set to a deep freeze. If the yeast doesn't have a chance to complete hibernation before it freezes you'll end up with yeast that won't work so well.