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RE: Digest bread-bakers.v098.n029

Mitch Smith <smithm@mvp.net>
Mon, 13 Apr 1998 20:08:36 -0500
v098.n033.11
>From: tammiesh@juno.com (Tammie L Shelton) wrote

>My mother and I were discussing bread baking the other day, and she was
>telling me that when she was a little girl her mother used "cake yeast"
>instead of yeast like Red Star.  It came in a square shaped bar.  I have
>never heard of this kind of yeast nor seen it in the store.  Does anyone
>know if this kind of yeast is still made, and if so, what is your
>experience using it.

Cake yeast is also called "fresh yeast" and I have no problem finding it
in St. Louis, though one generally doesn't see it in the chain grocery
stores. It is readily available in a small, upscale supermarket here, as
well as in a number of specialty stores, like are present in our Italian
neighborhood.

Cake yeast dissolves a bit faster than dry yeast, and it is a bit faster
on the initial rise. However, some years back I did a number of side-
by-side comparisons between the same brand of cake & dry yeast 
(Fleischmann's) and found no discernable, consistent difference in the
results. 

The primary disadvantage of cake yeast, when you find it, is a short 
shelf life - you'll be lucky to get 6 weeks, =maybe= 2 months out of 
it before you need to toss it.

The primary advantage of it is cost when you do a lot of yeast baking
and can find it in the one-pound blocks. A 1 lb block is just about $1
around here which is pretty cheap even though I usually toss about 
half of it when it starts getting gray & rubbery. Contrast that to a 4 oz.
jar of dry yeast which sells for about $5.50 around town.

In summary, if you can find it, it is fine to use and gives you a slightly
faster start, but only on your first rise. It may or may not have cost
advantages for you, depending on how much yeast baking you do 
each week. However, don't expect it to make any difference in the 
final results of your baked loaf.

- Mitch