Bread-Bakers v107.n018.6

In San Francisco I can often find fresh yeast at the local health 
food store (Rainbow Grocery) or at Whole Paycheck...I mean Whole Foods.

Not that I ever use the stuff. I use instant dry yeast. Here are some 
rules of thumb:

* 1 oz. fresh yeast works like 0.4 oz instant yeast (some people say 
0.33 oz....)

* 1 oz. instant dry yeast fills 12.5 teaspoons

With a little math that should be all you need to substitute one for the other.

Soft wheat vs. hard wheat are general terms for different strains of 
wheat. But home bakers will be hard-pressed to find out the strain of 
wheat used for a particular brand of flour...although here are two exceptions:

http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=132201&prrfnbr=176815

http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=132201&prrfnbr=176812

Soft wheats do tend to have less protein than hard wheat, so I might 
be tempted to ignore the author's advice and use AP or cake or a 
mixture of AP and cake flour. I've heard that some of the flour 
brands popular in the south (White Lily?) tend to be made of soft 
wheat 'cause those varieties grow better down there.

Allen