How To Channel Your Inner Baker-man(woman)

First, let’s set the mood. 😂😜

I’ve often thought “Wouldn’t it be nice to make my own bread?” , “Kneading dough looks like fun and it’s stress-relieving”, “I want to do that!”, and “Wow, making my own cinnamon rolls, sourdough, or french bread, etc. would be awesome.” I’ve always admired people who can and do make their own bread. Sadly, I haven’t had much success in the past baking any bread using yeast until just recently. So what’s changed or different from my other failed attempts?

Fresh Yeast!! (or sometimes referred to as Baker’s Yeast or Cake Yeast)

Fresh yeast is a cube of compressed yeast cells with 70% moisture and is commonly used by baking professionals. It’s light beige in color and is soft and crumbly. It usually comes in a pack of two blocks at 25 grams each. It has a shelf life of approximately two to three weeks, so it needs to stay refrigerated and you will most likely find it in the refrigerated section of the supermarket by the butter. Although I have heard it may be harder to find in the US.

It’s super easy to work with. You just crumble it into your recipe. You can use it in place of other types of dry, active yeasts. Just follow the same instructions in a recipe (don’t forget to convert measurements, see below) but from my experience when going through the proofing step, you can skip waiting for the yeast to bubble. I haven’t seen it bubble but it certainly rises and doubles and works great without it.

Tips:

• Make sure to take a look at the expiration date and use it before it expires.
• Keep refrigerated.
• You can use any yeast recipe but you’ll want to convert the measurements. See the diagram below with further conversion instructions.

Check out these handy references from The Spruce Eats:

Here are some of my recent creations. Take a look!

I can’t wait to try more recipes!

Do you have any tips or tricks for baking with yeast? Care to share? Leave me a comment. I would love to here from you.

Happy baking!!