A Lesson in Yeast
If you want to make homemade bread, rolls, and so forth, then you need to know how to do it in an hour. It’s all about the yeast. Fifteen years ago I attended a class on making whole wheat bread.
My life hasn’t been the same since.
It’s because of this yeast.
This is called SAF-Instant Yeast.
Most grocery stores don’t carry it, but they should. It is actually cheaper than the yeast you buy at the grocery store, like Red Star, and it’s 100 times better. It’s more potent than active dry yeast.
Let me tell you a little bit about how to use this stuff.
Because friends always share the best tips with their friends.
Forget about warm water, yeast, and sugar in a little bowl, and hoping that the yeast is good.
Forget about worrying that your water was too warm.
Forget all that stuff.
SAF yeast just goes into the recipe with the flour, like any other ingredient.
You store it in your freezer.
It goes directly into your recipe from the freezer.
It will keep for years in your freezer (I am currently using one I’ve had for 4 1/2 years and it is perfectly fine.) This means you can buy it in bulk and store it for a long time if you want to.
Forget about waiting for dough to double in size, or giving it an hour to rise.
Try giving it 10-15 minutes.
This stuff is good. It’s really that good.
I honestly don’t think you can mess it up.
It’s so easy, simple, and fast.
And did I mention that it’s much cheaper per batch than the other kinds?
I store mine in a quart size freezer bag once it’s been open.
This is what it looks like. Just regular old yeast.
But it will revolutionize your baking.
It can be substituted for any other kind of yeast in any other recipe.
I like to use this handy little shot glass measuring cup because it has both tablespoons and ounces on it. I’ve found that some recipes measure yeast in ounces and some do it in tablespoons, so this lets me measure quickly.
You might like to know that 1 packet of yeast is 2 1/4 teaspoons.
Some people say that if you’re substituting with SAF yeast, you can reduce the yeast by 25%, or in other words, use 1 3/4 teaspoons as a substitute for 1 packet of active dry yeast.
If that’s too confusing for you, then just use the equivalent of whatever your recipe calls for.
With that said, go get some!
And then make these homemade rolls.
Let’s get baking!
-Jennifer
