{"id":2730,"date":"2013-12-13T22:35:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T21:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/?p=2730"},"modified":"2013-12-15T11:48:45","modified_gmt":"2013-12-15T10:48:45","slug":"yeast-its-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/ingredients\/yeast-its-alive","title":{"rendered":"Yeast – It’s alive!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A loaf of bread, a soft brioche, doughnuts or even croissants all have one thing in common: they are made with yeast.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A cube of fresh, compressed yeast<\/p><\/div>\n

What is yeast and how does it work?<\/h3>\n

First of all, baker’s yeast is a living organism<\/strong>. It is a one-celled fungus<\/strong> to be precise (aka saccharomyces cerevisiae<\/em>) and it has been instrumental to baking, brewing and wine-making since ancient times.<\/p>\n

Yeast in pastry is used to leaven products<\/strong>, providing rise, texture and flavour.<\/p>\n

Yeast feeds on carbohydrates<\/strong> (e.g. sugar and starches) and converts them to carbon dioxide<\/strong> (CO2<\/sub><\/b>) and ethanol<\/strong> (alcohol) in a process called “fermentation<\/strong>“. To recap:<\/p>\n

Yeast + Carbohydrates = Carbon dioxide + ethanol<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once the gluten<\/strong> network has developed in a dough, it will trap the carbon dioxide released by the yeast<\/strong>, leavening the dough and providing the right rise and texture.<\/p>\n

\"yeast-rise\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How to use yeast?<\/h3>\n

First of all, remember three main points about yeast:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • It needs carbohydrates<\/strong> as food<\/li>\n
  • Moisture activates the yeast<\/strong> cells<\/li>\n
  • Salt inhibits the growth<\/strong> of yeast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    In a recipe, you need to balance well sugar and salt<\/strong> and, most importantly, the yeast should never be in direct contact<\/strong> with them. For this reason, yeast is often dissolved in some water<\/strong> before adding it to the dough. In alternative, you can place the yeast on the flour in the middle of a mixing bowl, then the sugar and salt on opposite sides: this also prevents killing or overfeeding the yeast.<\/p>\n

    Temperatures<\/strong> as well are very important for yeast:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    2\u00b0C and less<\/td>\nYeast is inactive<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    16\u00b0C-21\u00b0C<\/td>\nYeast is active but its action is slow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    24\u00b0C-35\u00b0C<\/td>\nBest temperature<\/strong> for yeast activity. You should melt the yeast in water in this temperature range.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55\u00b0C-59\u00b0C<\/td>\nThe yeast dies<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    The activity of yeast is immediate<\/strong> and continues in the first minutes of baking too, until the dough reaches the temperature at which the yeast dies.<\/p>\n

    Types and characteristics of yeast<\/h3>\n

    Yeast is mainly available in three forms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Type<\/strong><\/td>\nCharacteristics<\/strong><\/td>\nUsage<\/strong><\/td>\nStorage<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Compressed yeast<\/strong><\/td>\nCreamy white<\/strong> colour, fresh yeasty smell, moist<\/strong> (i.e. doughy, not dry, crumbly but not too much)<\/td>\nSoftened<\/strong> in twice its weight in warm water<\/strong> at around 35\u00b0 before being added to the dough.<\/td>\n2-3 weeks shelf-life, refrigerated<\/strong>. May be frozen and stored for 1 month, but it will lose some of its activity when thawed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Active dry yeast<\/strong><\/td>\nLooks like a powder, it’s basically yeast without moisture<\/strong>. The absence of moisture makes the yeast inactive<\/td>\nGenerally rehydrated in lukewarm water<\/strong> before being added to the dough<\/td>\nCan be stored at room temperature<\/strong> for several months. Should be refrigerated after opening.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Instant dry yeast<\/strong><\/td>\nSame as active dry yeast, but it is more convenient<\/strong> to use<\/td>\nCan be added directly to the dry ingredients<\/strong> without rehydrating. The water in the recipe will hydrate it. For firm doughs, instant dry yeast is moistened in 4-5 times its weight of water, to make sure it fully dissolves (deduct this amount of water from the total of the recipe).<\/td>\nCan be stored at room temperature<\/strong> for several months. Should be refrigerated after opening.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A loaf of bread, a soft brioche, doughnuts or even croissants all have one thing in common: they are made with yeast. What is yeast and how does it work? First of all, baker’s yeast is a living organism. It is a one-celled fungus to be precise (aka saccharomyces cerevisiae) and it has been instrumental<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[312],"tags":[390,392,388,693,391,387,389,386],"class_list":["post-2730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ingredients","tag-active-yeast","tag-compressed-yeast","tag-fermentation","tag-ingredients","tag-instant-dry-yeast","tag-pastry-academy","tag-temperatures","tag-yeast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roadtopastry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}