YEAST

[Rainbow Profile]

I use a bread maker and the dried yeast, but don't make loaves very often. I freeze the yeast and it seems to last for ages.
(I'm sure I've posted this before, on another thread )

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I'm sure you have mentioned it before and I think it's a good idea, but haven't done so myself. It's what we do with proper coffee - we're very much tea drinkers and a bag of ground coffee lasts for ages. I now clip the bag and keep it in the freezer. However, it then has to be found again, sometimes at short notice, which is a weakness with the plan given our freezer and my management of it.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

You may well have mentioned it before, but as I wasn’t using yeast regularly until just before Xmas it didn’t stick with me!

[Pommes Profile]

French flour & raising agents have given me much grief over the years, as it is a whole new ball game here. Having used a bread machine in the UK , I quickly found it didn't work for either bread of cakes as soon as we moved. Panasonic totally ignored my enquiries. Now always make my bread by hand .... (with the aid of the Kenwood!), & have now come to the conclusion that you have to use the same brand of dried yeast as flour. Ditto with raising agent for cakes etc. Both are only available in sachets & fresh yeast is only occasionally available in the supermarkets.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Just plonking this explanation of the different types of flour here for later use, looks useful, haven't read it yet.

It looks confusing, I may try to convert it into a more readily understandable chart later.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/51263/ ... lour-t1150

[dennispc Profile]

Have frozen fresh yeast many times.

One time member paulthebread posted once he’d found an opened packet of dried yeast at the back of cupboard and it was fine. He thought it'd had been there longer than a year.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Here's the reply I got from Allinsons in response to my question (Why is Dried Active 99p for 125g and Easy Bake 99p for 100g, although in identically sized tubs):

Hi Mick,

Thanks for contacting us.

Whilst we recognise your confusion with the retail price of these products, it may help to explain that these prices are determined by a number of external factors, therefore retail prices are outside of our direct control.

Kind regards
Sam
Consumer Product Advisor
Customer Services

Should I delve further? Does anyone else feel that reply is utterly condescending?

I'm tempted to reply:
The retail price may be out of your control, but the decision to package them in identically sized tubs, but with 100g in one and 125g in the other is not.

[Pampy Profile]

I'm tempted to reply:
The retail price may be out of your control, but the decision to package them in identically sized tubs, but with 100g in one and 125g in the other is not.

They'd probably answer that it's economies of scale that dictates the tub size.

[jeral Profile]

If the same except for weight, do they make the same number of say 800g loaves? Perhaps one is more voluminous per serving?

As to why anyone would personally pay more could depend on servings, if different, or ease of mixing/proving, so might be paying for convenience, or shelf life even.

Allison will no doubt say that either yeast is successful. I suppose you could ask why they sell both, i.e. the USP of each vs the other.

I doubt you'll get far on pricing as they will sell at different prices to different suppliers, who probably price according to what sells and stocks they need to get rid of.

[jeral Profile]

Just checked Allinson's yeast. If hand baking, the 125g Dried Active makes 17 loaves, vs 14 using Easy Bake, so is clearly cheaper at 5.88p vs 7.14p per loaf. However, ...

If machine baking, the dearer Easy Bake is a captive audience: The dried yeast has to be pre-mixed in water to activate it, so is not suitable for chucking straight into in a bread maker.

The pricing logically in marketing terms is that busy people will usually pick up a tub for a quid rather than £1.25, so they adjust the weight to keep to the same price point.

That's my take, so I don't know what I would ask Allinson's that I don't know already.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Easy Bake is a captive audience

That may well be the answer I was looking for, and it's clear why Allinson's wouldn't want to admit it, with all the bread machine manufacturers pushing the more expensive version! Sneaky.

I guess in practice a bread machine user could "pre-prepare" the dry active in a bread machine to save 20% on yeast costs.

Haven't got around to posting those book summaries, but Harold McGee says authoritatively that you HAVE to pre-start the dry active, it simply doesn't work properly if you put it straight in.

In my Richard Bertinet book (Crust), he refers specifically to easy bake, and makes a reference to activation:
"If you do use dried yeast buy the easy blend type....instead of dissolving it in warm water first, just rub it straight into your flour".

Odd thing to say (nd maybe where the confusion crept in) as you don't have to activate Easy Bake, that's the whole point.

EDIT: * Easy Bake = Easy Blend = Fast Action

[jeral Profile]

...

EDIT: * Easy Bake = Easy Blend = Fast Action

= Fermipan in older books, I think it’s the original brand name

At one point all easy blend yeast is made at the same plant in Italy, in much the same way as nearly all pork gelatin comes from an industrIal estate near Frankfurt

[dennispc Profile]

I've posted before that Bertinett's first book, Dough, says treat all yeast the same, sprinkle or crumble it in.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Thats why I posted, because that's NOT what he says in Crust.

EDIT: I'll post McGee's wisdom here later.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I´ve always got a packet of dried yeast in the freezer.
The current packet is coming to an end, but it still works after 4 years

[Rainbow Profile]

I´ve always got a packet of dried yeast in the freezer.
The current packet is coming to an end, but it still works after 4 years

That's good to know! I've never kept mine that long but I know freezing it is a good way to go - especially when it's hot and humid, like it is here at the moment

[Sakkarin Profile]

My yeast has now migrated from the cupboard to the fridge...

Here's what looks like a pretty thorough description of how yeast is manufactured, it's a PDF document which will download if you click the link, not a webpage.

It also gives the official(?) descriptions of the two types of dried yeast as ADY and IDY (Active and Instant Dried Yeast), so you can add IDY to those names I gave in an earlier post!

Not sure if I'm reading it right, but it seems that 120kg of yeast in the initial stage is grown to 100,000 kg in the final stage. That's a lorra lorra yeast!

https://www3.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch0 ... 9s13-4.pdf

[Stokey Sue Profile]

That sounds about right to me - would note that’s a US document, and EU practice may vary a bit

I bought 8 little sachets of IDY today in Morrison’s, they had both the Allinson tubs but at 50p for 8 x 7g sachets it’s actually the cheapest

[Sakkarin Profile]

SOLVED.

Found a saved screenshot of this page from 2016. In practice it means although you get 25% more yeast, it is slightly more expensive to use as you require 50% more than quick yeast.

Should I send this link to the lady* from Allinsons who didn't know the answer?

https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/hints-tips/ ... sion-table

*Not the word I originally used.