Happy New Year to all of you bread bakers!
I have a little gift for you all: a bit of knowledge. There has been
a lot of myth bantered about recently by posters to this list, and I
thought maybe I could set the record straight. I give my yeast
lecture every time I teach, and hope I can make a little headway here.
RapidRise yeast is Fleischmann's trademarked name for their instant
yeast. It is not a distinct type of yeast. There are four types of
yeast available to bakers: cream yeast, compressed yeast, active dry
yeast, and instant active dry yeast. The first--creamed yeast--is
only available to large wholesale bakers. It is yeast in slurry form
straight from the factory, containing all its original water. It is
pumpable, so highly desirable for large commercial bakeries.
Compressed yeast--the most active yeast available to home
bakers--contrary to what people might be imagining--is creamed yeast
with the extra water removed. This yeast needs to be stored between
33 and 40 degrees F and only has a shelf life of two weeks, so
usually only larger bakeries use this type of yeast. Old time bakers
prefer it for its amazing leavening ability. A little goes a long, long way.
Active dry yeast is what most bakers have been using because it is so
easy to store. It will keep, in its original packaging, for about a
year at room temperature, making it a big improvement from the
compressed yeast. However, it is the least active yeast--producing
the least amount of gas, because of its large number of dead yeast
cells--and must be proofed, that is, rehydrated in warm water, before
use. It is a pain to use and a relatively large amount must be used
for decent leavening, so often recipes with active dry yeast have a
yeasty odor and flavor.
To improve this yeast, a new type of cooler drying process was
invented that resulted in a yeast product that had many more viable
cells than the active dry and a finer grain, and so did not need to
be proofed before use. This is instant active dry yeast.
Rather than call this yeast by its name--instant active dry
yeast--which is admittedly a mouthful, the yeast companies all use a
unique trademarked name for their product. Fleischmann's calls their
instant yeast RapidRise, and they also market an instant yeast with
ascorbic acid included as an improver called Bread Machine
yeast. Red Star calls their instant yeast Quick-Rise yeast. SAF
calls their yeast Perfect Rise.
All these yeasts have continued to be marketed in the three-envelope
strips, with 7 grams yeast. However, because the yeast has more
viable cells, less needs to be used to produce the same leavening
action as the old active dry yeast. Thus, the yeast appears to act
faster. What home bakers need to know is that they just need to use
slightly less yeast when converting between recipes calling for
active dry yeast to recipes calling for instant yeast, usually about
8% less. For instance, while 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast can
leaven about 1 pound of flour for ordinary bread recipes, 3/4
teaspoon instant yeast is sufficient. Yeast amounts can and should
be adjusted according to temperature and time.
In the marvelous No Knead bread recipe, any brand of INSTANT yeast can be used.
I wish you all a healthy happy New Year, with lots of interesting and
delicious bread adventures!
Maggie Glezer