Those of you who make homemade pizza or bread

[Frosty]

I'm not asking for recipes... made enough pizza in my life that I really don't like it.

My question is, what kind of yeast do you use, and how much yeast to how much flour?

The reason that I am asking: I have a lot of family members who have been having problems with their breads for the past 5 years or so. Turns out, the yeast is different or something and not working like it used to. So now I have to mail yeast to them and I was curious about how yours is working.

 

[scarter]

Ours works just fine. I like to use Red Star because I know someone that works for them. For pizza crust I use: 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

 

[Germaine_11.20]

They may be using the "quick rising" SAF yeast. It is pretty popular and it does require different measurements.

The only help I can give you is my change I have here in a recipe. Typically it calls for 2 Pkgs yeast (usually measures out to about 2 Tbsp.)

I replace the 2 pkgs. with 4 and 1/2 tsp. of the SAF. Works fine.

 

[PandoraTaylor]

I make sourdough with almost any kind of yeast, and it works great.
1 1/2 teaspoons Yeast
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup warm water
1 Tablespoon Sugar

Let sit in warm place 24-48 hours,
* add 1 cup warm water
1 Cup Flour let sit 2 hours, divide and use 1/2 in whatever recipe you wish reserve the other half for use later (*repeat).
you can also refrigerate and use later.

 

[Frosty]

That's the thing... they have tried Red Star, Fleischmanns, check water temp when proofing the yeast, etc... It used to take 1 package of yeast with 6 cups of flour. Now it seems to need 2 packages? I bake for a local farm market, so I had started using Fermipan and missed the change in the other yeast, but family members were starting to quit baking because it wasn't rising right anymore and were convinced that they were doing something wrong. This includes my mother who had been baking for close to 50 years. I sent some of the Fermipan, they use 2 1/4 tsp for 6 cups flour and it raises like crazy (and yes, it is instant yeast but so was some of the other brands they were using). If we used 2 packages worth of it with 3 cups of flour, the pizza crust would probably rise as high as a loaf of bread! I just wonder what changed with the packs of yeast that they sell, because something sure did.

 

[3goodeggs]

Maybe the stores where they purchased it were not storing it properly?
I doubt after 50 years, your mom was doing anything different.
I think when huge warehouses stock dry goods, they do not figure that not all dry goods are equal.
Sometimes I will get bread machine yeast that is superduper, and then I'll pay close to five bucks for a jar full of 'waste my time.' When I get a jar like that I make a sponge and work from there.

 

[Frosty]

But it appears as if everyone is now using 2 packs of yeast for recipes that we used to use one pack for... so looks like I am on the hook for sending yeast to family. I have sent it to PA, FL and AR. Close to 5 bucks for a jar? I pay close to 5 bucks for the stuff that I mail out, but it's a 15.9 oz bag (just under a pound). We open the bag, dump it in a quart jar, put a lid on and store it in the refrigerator. A bag lasts mom about 8 months (that's how long it takes her to use it up) and the last of it works as well as when she first opened it.

For sourdough breads, I just use my sourdough starter. I have 4 different types: Original San Francisco, 2 different Italian starters, and the yogurt based from a Sunset Bread cookbook. Need to play with them more...

The sponge idea sounds like a good one! How do you make it and use it?

 

[3goodeggs]

I make a sponge a lot like sour dough starter. warm water, sugar, some flour, yeast, then let it hang out. (Use the water and sugar and a bit of flour used in the recipe.) I just want to make sure it is cooking and growing and getting all gassy. When I know it will rise a loaf, I use it. When I have yeast that seems to be more dead than alive, I let it sit in a warm place and grow until it looks healthy enough to make something other than dog treats with it. I am not a very scientific person in my older age. I wing most everything now. All of those years of OCD plum wore me out. But I do know what you mean about the yeast, that's why I feed it and give it time to grow a bit.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

I use Fleischman's which I pick up at Sam's Club. You get two packages -- one pound each. Even though I use it a lot it takes a long time to go through one pound of yeast. I think it is an quick rising/instant yeast so you use a little less. You store the opened package in the fridge while using it up and the other package is fine to stay in the cupboard as long as it is unopened. It took me about six months of daily use to use up one package. It costs me about $4.50 at Sam's for this yeast. Way cheaper than buying it in the regular grocery store!

 

[3goodeggs]

Some one gave us a Sam's club card

, and we got some yesterday

. I am glad it is good stuff. It is SO much cheaper than the machine yeast at our local store. I really could not decide if home made ended up cheaper once I figured in the electricity to bake it. And when the yeast was a dud it was a super bummer, but I'd make dog crunchies out of it, and a good crunch really makes a dog happy.

I was concerned that much yeast would go bad before I use it, but I have always kept my yeast in the refrigerator, so now I won't worry.

Frosty, where do you find fermipan?

I think it is rather interesting that as times get tighter, we go back to the kitchen... and somehow, times feel better.