My bread has been giving me fits, refusing to rise. I finally read up on proofing commercial dry yeast and discovered that when I add it to some water and a little sugar, I should be getting it to foam so as to double its volume in ten minutes or so. Well, that hasn't been happening!
I figured, since I was getting at least a little reaction, there must be a few yeasts still alive in there, even if most of the package was on strike. The inactive ones don't do any harm, so I just kept increasing the total dried yeast until I got a good double-sized proof, and then used the whole batch in the bread. Voila, a loaf with enough rise to make sandwich bread.
You can also make a 'sponge' by adding sugar and water and just a cup of flour, stirring it all up, and putting it in the refrigerator overnight. If there's any active yeast, it'll breed itself into a foamy mess sooner usually overnight.
ReplyDeleteYou can, of course, also wild-catch yeast. Just leave the sugar/water/flour mix exposed to the open air.
Sure, I've done that. I admit, I do it this way because I can have a loaf of bread within 3 hours start to finish, with no lingering duties to babysit the starter for the next few weeks. Also, I haven't ever been able to get a really exuberant rise out of a natural yeast starter: it takes patience and skill.
ReplyDeleteIt's like expired medicine - except with that, you have to worry about side effects if you double up.
ReplyDeleteNice problem solving, with delicious looking results!
ReplyDeleteHow old was your yeast?
ReplyDeleteI mostly cook flatbreads, which take a lot less time to cook than loaves, and can be cooked in a skillet. Dump stuff on them to make a "pizza."
It was a couple of different batches from the grocery store, both with expiration dates in mid-2021. So it wasn't that old, but it may have been mistreated in a warehouse.
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