Fresh yeast vs Dry yeast

[Zan]

LOL Nik, I hardly every shopped in Waitrose, never had a local so I really was trying to remember (all I could think of was dh's favourite - read expensive - jars of things on the top shelves, lol).
Just seeing the old ladies jumping around the store.
Waitrose and Ocado have certainly grown in the last 5 years, ocado was just started and not everywhere and there is now a waitrose in marylebone - when I lived there I had to go to a horrid Safeways on Edgeware Road or Selfridges food hall, lol.

[timfulford]

Morrisons sell it!  Four small blocks for under a £1 or search for it on Ebay its really easy to find.  Tip: dried or fresh? how much is needed?  if recipe calls for 7g fresh then 3.5g of fresh does the same job and visa versa.

[Nik2WIN]

Just to add something to the debate here.  The original post asked if fresh yeast was superior to dry and since most of us always use one or the other it was all a bit of heresay.

I nearly always use fresh but being without a car I've had to raid my stash of dry as there is nowhere that I can walk to that sells fresh yeast.  I often make a starter/sponge or use a bit of yesterday's dough to add to the flavour.  I've done the same with my dry yeast and whilst there doesn't seem to be any difference at all in the rising performance when I used my old dough I took the lid of to give it a good sniff of that lovely fermenty yeasty smell and there was ..... nothing! nada! not a whiff.  The bread is OK but not great and I'm used to making great bread

I'm afraid I was straight onto ebay to get some fresh yeast.  I shall be keeping a "stash" of fresh yeast in the freezer from now on!  As an aside, advice is to keep yeast in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.  I tend to take off what I'm like to use this week and put the rest in the back of the fridge.  I find that way, you're not taking it in and out all the time and the stuff at the back lasts for at least 3 weeks.

Nik

[Cuilidh]

Tip: dried or fresh? how much is needed?  if recipe calls for 7g fresh then 3.5g of fresh does the same job and visa versa.

I am assuming there is a small typo there - is it meant to read 7g DRIED = 3.5g FRESH?  Could someone clarify it for me.

Thanks

[judydawn]

There is something wrong with those quantities Cuilidh.  I understand 20g fresh = 7g dried.  Comments from others please.

[cookie1]

I'm with you judy.

[Frozzie]

Me too .. Believe thats thé standard conversion between thé two 

[Cuilidh]

Thanks for clarifying that for me everyone.

[Katya]

You've inspired me Nik.  I never realised you could get fresh yeast off the internet but I've now ordered a batch which should arrive today.   I'll be freezing it in batches and will be interested to see how my standard loaf comes out using fresh as opposed to dried.

Thanks 

 

[Nik2WIN]

You've inspired me Nik.  I never realised you could get fresh yeast off the internet but I've now ordered a batch which should arrive today.   I'll be freezing it in batches and will be interested to see how my standard loaf comes out using fresh as opposed to dried.

Thanks 

 

If you have a good bakery near you its much better to get it from there as it won't have done 24/48 hours in the postal system!  I still prefer it to dried yeast, but then I can tell the difference between Gordon's Gin and Hendricks ....   

Nik

[Shayla]

I use fresh yeast all the time at home for making my bread - rule of thumb is that only 1% - 2% of flour weight required - ie 500gm flour 5gm or 10gm fresh yeast; I don't usually even bother to weigh it just use a chunk. I store my fresh yeast in the freezer and defrost it in the warm water or milk used for making the loaf. Here in South Africa all the large supermarkets with their own bakery sell it by weight and is much cheaper than the dried packets - R36 per kilo as opposed to R2.50 for a 10g packet. Having said all that when I do demos I use the packets of yeast as that is what most people are used to seeing. I think the taste is much better using fresh but the rising etc doesn't seem to differ whichever is used. I always have a few packets of the dried in case I run out of fresh.