A couple of weeks ago, I believe someone asked about making pain a
l'ancienne with active dry yeast. It can be done, and it works fine. I've
done it. You need to make a few of changes, though.
First, increase the quantity of yeast a bit according to the substitution
given in the book.
Second, when making the dough, dissolve the yeast in the cold water first;
you cannot just throw it in with the flour like instant yeast. Then mix in
about half the flour (to protect the yeast from the salt), add the salt and
the rest of the flour and mix according to the instructions in the recipe.
I've kept the dough in the fridge for up to 3 days and never seen any
activity. It doesn't seem to rise at all in fridge, at least for me. And it
takes about 6 - 8 hours after I remove it from the fridge to rise fully,
but it does, eventually.
Larry T