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Used to be I could get a three-pack and it would work really well, you'd get a good rise and good airy bread. Anymore, it seems like every pack I get is different. One will work fine, the next won't rise at all.

I have a loaf rising right now, and it's not even puffing up.

Used to be I could get a three-pack and it would work really well, you'd get a good rise and good airy bread. Anymore, it seems like every pack I get is different. One will work fine, the next won't rise at all. I have a loaf rising right now, and it's not even puffing up.

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[–] • 11 pts

Feed your yeast with sugar and lukewarm water and let it rest/rise for 10 minutes before mixing it to the flour.

If you make a dough for bread or savory stuff, add your salt (diluted in a little water) at the end when the kneading is almost done (to prevent the salt from burning/killing the yeast)

[–] • 2 pts

Yeah, that's SOP. Still doesn't work. The yeast seems to be working, I get a good pop out of it.

[–] • 6 pts

Are you using tap water? Chlorine is known to kill yeast, the ammt of chlorine added to tap water varies with water quality.

[–] • 5 pts

I'm going to try with distilled water next time, because I also been having problem with dough rise lately. Will leaving tap water in an open pot for some time enough to get rid of chlorin?

[–] • 2 pts

It's heavily filtered. Just the smell of chlorinated water makes me retch.

[–] • 5 pts

Might be the flour, water's PH, and/or the temperature of the room where you store the dough.

[–] • 2 pts

King Arthur usually gives me good results. I have some War Eagle for the next batch, I'll see how that goes.

[–] • 2 pts (edited )

Without turning on the oven at all, place a kitchen towel on the bowl in which the dough sits, and place it in the oven (a warm place - assumes you have a 30-40 yr old gas pilot lit oven), alternatively, if you have an electric blanket make a nest for your bowl, put the blanket on the lowest setting, towel over the dough bowl and wait. Sometimes the dough looks dead from bad yeast, but given time and a warm spot will have a better chance to revive and rise but it may take a long time even in the warm spots (check in an hour).

[–] • 1 pt

I usually put hand-knead in the furnace closet with the water heater. It's nice and warm.

[–] • 2 pts (edited )

Good tip! Necessary also for good outcomes. On another note:

My long late Mother stopped making breads and cakes in her 50's. She claimed her chemistry had changed due to woman life changes and a woman's Ph levels changing killed the yeast every time. Gawd! I miss her Zucchini bread. And I miss her too.

[–] • 3 pts

Make your own and start a company. "Yeastin' Faction LLC"

[–] • 2 pts

Wait. Bigot!!!! Do you expect bread yeast to be binary!!!! NO!!!

[–] • 1 pt

I expect it to perform as specified. No more, no less.

[–] • 2 pts

Yeast activity is highly dependent upon temperature, but why are throwing money away?

Get a decent culture or start your own. There's no reason to pay for yeast every time you need it. Your baked goods will also keep longer when using a natural culture.

It does take practice to determine how much to use of your culture and that varies by culture.

Keep baking. It's hard to get away from the soy being dumped in store bought food otherwise.

[–] • 1 pt

I don't bake enough to make keeping my own yeast culture alive. I maybe make a loaf of bread every few months, usually only for a meal that goes better with bread.

Going to make ham and brown beans for tomorrow's dinner, thought bread would go well with it.

[–] • 1 pt

You can refrigerate your starter, even freeze it. Although freezing takes a couple days to recover

[–] • 1 pt

I find the kitchen temp retards my rise, I proof in the oven with the light on. Works every time. I also buy a big pkg of yeast, instead of individual packets, cheaper that way.

[–] • 1 pt

Back to the original question - YES, the results I get have been wildly varied, and usually poor. I have tried every kind of yeast available on the store shelf, a very limited selection. All these wonderful tips are useless if the yeast itself is dead.

[–] • 0 pt

Interesting. Is this something you've noticed recently, or an ongoing thing?

Some of the stores that serve the blueshirt niggers have fresh yeast cake, I thought about trying that if I could use it up quick enough.

[–] • 1 pt

That was shortly after the "pandemic" started, when I made a valiant effort to make bread. Over a few months. Only from chain grocery stores.

[–] • 1 pt

Sourdough... haven't used packaged yeast (other than for my brewing/fermenting of beer/cider/wine) in years.

You can get a free start here (well, close enough to free ~ 2 stamps and 2 envelopes) https://www.carlsfriends.net/

You can make it "not sour" pretty easy if that's a concern.

[–] • 0 pt

I always loved good tangy sourdough bread.

[–] • 1 pt

Noticing variability? Start recording everything... the brand of yeast, it's expiration date, how it's stored (hot, cold, etc), where it came from (which store), the brand and type of flour, the water (maybe record oh and if it smells of chlor... use tepid water that has had plenty of time to outgas), etc. Whats the room temperature and humidity... proofing oven temperature match the dial? Right amount of salt and sugar? We do this in the bakery biz to great effect....see a problem, you can narrow down the why....

[–] • 0 pt

I've been watching things to see what's changed, the only thing I can really point to is the environment is a little more humid than normal. Everything else is the same, same brands, fresh materials, and whatnot.

The thing that puzzles me is I never used to have this problem. It just...worked.

[–] • 1 pt

I make pizza crust and haven't had a problem. I don't even add sugar, just flour, water, yeast, and salt.

[–] • 0 pt

I didn't until recently. I'm still trying to figure out why.

[–] • 1 pt

Same here. I would buy these expensive rustic bread rolls and cut them in half. I guess I can thank Biden for inflation and pushing me to make my own crust. It's so damn simple and now I have real pizza made from basic ingredients (I use some marinara/pasta sauce for the base, tastes great).

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

You can buy and sell Heirloom yeast here. And you can culture it yourself for a hobby if you will. In fact there are several breeds of yeast out there. All it takes is your imagination what to do with them. Fuck seamonkeys, culture yeast and enjoy it's rewards and sell it also.

[–] • 0 pt

Interesting. May give some a try.

[–] • 1 pt

It's always something to do as a side hobby, and could be a barter item in a dystopic future?

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