Description
This article is from the How to Make Basic
Bread FAQ, by Darrell Greenwood darrell.faq@telus.invalid with
numerous contributions by others.
02 Yeasts
Yeast is a living thing, a plant/fungus whose preferred food happens to be
gluten, the protein portion of wheat flour. It feeds and multiplies on the
gluten, starches and sugars you provide, and produces carbon dioxide. This
gas becomes trapped in the stretchy gluten components of the flour, and
causes the entire mass to rise. Some flours have high gluten content, and
work well for bread. Other brands, notably the so-called "pastry flour," is
more finely milled from softer wheat, and not intended for bread baking. I
can't imagine a yeasty pie crust made from high gluten flour, rising nicely
over the top of the plate and pushing the apples out, or worse, chewy and
flat. Low gluten pastry flour works admirably for pie crusts and products
that don't need to rise - but not for our purposes.
In this FAQ, and for those of you starting out, I recommend buying
commercial yeast - strips of three envelopes are available in almost any
grocery store. Each envelope contains about 2/3 of a tablespoon of yeast,
one or two of these are just right for many bread recipes. You may also
find cakes of yeast in the cheese or lunchmeat section, but they're
probably more trouble to use than the envelopes. Typical brands are "Red
Star" and "Fleischmanns," and are usually grown commercially on molasses
substrates.
If you become serious about bread making, try and find a good 'health food'
store, or bulk food store nearby. You can usually find yeast in bulk, and
many types of flour and other ingredients at better prices. Mail order is
also available, but quite expensive. Check the 'pull date' on the yeast
envelopes to make sure you're not buying old product - we'll "proof" it to
be on the safe side.
"Proofing yeast" is a simple process, and means just what the name implies.
You run a bit of warm water, usually about 1/4 cup, into a large warm bowl,
add a small amount of sweetener (white/brown sugar, molasses, honey, etc)
for the yeasties to feed on, and sprinkle the yeast into the mixture. Stir
gently with a wooden spoon to help the yeast dissolve - now wait 5 to 10
minutes. The 'proof' the yeast is working will be obvious - the mixture
will thicken and tend to rise a bit - proving the yeast is viable.
If you use hot water, more than about 115 F, you'll kill the yeast and
prove the opposite. Too cold, and the yeast refuses to get up, just like
you'd like to do on cold mornings. To be safe, run the water over your
wrist like you'd do for a baby's bottle. If it's comfortably warm this way,
it should work just fine. Warm the bowl up the same way.
When you go back to sourdough starters and cultures, 'proofing' will be
similar - you're encouraging and verifying the vitality of your leavening
agent.
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