How to test and activate yeast?

[How to test and activate yeast?]

How to test and activate yeast?

The question often arises on the forum:
- how to check the quality of yeast, its germination?
- what is yeast activation?
- how to activate yeast?
- what is needed to activate yeast?

Let's figure it out and try to activate the yeast together!

Yeast activation is a way of bringing the yeast into working condition, when the yeast becomes capable of working, raising the dough after kneading.
As a rule, yeast activation is carried out in cases of doubt about their quality and performance in the dough.

I now use instant, fast yeast (others are not available), so I will show an example of yeast activation on them. It should be noted that instant yeast is of good quality, strong and active, and generally does not need to be activated.

There are two ways to activate yeast:
composition: flour, water, sugar, yeast
composition: water, sugar, yeast

Ingredients:
warm water - 100 ml. warm up to 35-45 * С
dry yeast - 1 tsp
white sugar - 1 tsp
wheat flour - 2 tbsp. l.

Preparation:
1.Pour flour, sugar, yeast into a bowl, stir so that there are no lumps.



2.Pour warm water into the dry mixture, stir until smooth with a jelly (no need to beat the mass!)



3. Cover the mass with a napkin and set aside.

4. this is what you see in the bowl after 10 minutes:
- a frothy cap made of seething-boiling yeast, which constantly turns into new craters, burst with pleasure, and again turn into craters, etc.





- if you look at the bowl from the side, then from below you can see a thin strip of directly water, liquid, and above a frothy mass of bubbling yeast.



5. Testing the yeast showed that the yeast is active, works well and can be used in baked goods.

In this way, the activation of any yeast, dry or wet, can be checked.
When testing wet yeast, it is advisable to first dissolve the yeast until homogeneous in warm water, then add sugar, flour and gently stir again until smooth, and then place under a napkin.

On this yeast mass, you can immediately knead the bread dough.
But, it should be noted that the above ingredients (flour, water, sugar, yeast) should be taken into account and subtracted from the total amount of ingredients that you will measure to make the dough.

Cook with pleasure and enjoy your meal!

and if the craters described above do not appear, then can dry yeast be thrown away? Or is it somehow possible to bring them into working order?

And how is it possible to bring them into working order if they do not show signs of life?
For this, we make a test of the yeast for activation, to find out if they have signs of life and whether they will work in the dough.

well - then - apparently it's time to move on to the preparation of the leaven. That's just a question for you about the leaven.

The most correct move is to first learn how to bake ordinary wheat bread with yeast, work to the machine! Understand the principle of baking, the most important thing is the principle of kneading the dough! Otherwise, two factors will superimpose: inability to use yeast, inability to communicate with the dough, to track the bun, inability to use leaven.

Sourdough is a tricky business! First, you need to grow it, bring it to maturity - then start up it.

On this occasion, there is a section Bread with sourdough - a lot of good recipes and a lot of sourdoughs. And there is a good moderator who is fluent in the art of making sourdough bread, she will prompt https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/index.php@option=com_smf&action=collapse;c=22;sa=expand;sesc=1d08b2e44e494dd873c08390377fcb21#22

Tatyana, my dry yeast does not want to raise the dough !!
I'm stumped! I just bought yeast.
Or maybe the salt does not allow them to rise?
I just remembered that I changed the salt to a large stone one, and before that there was a fine extra.

Masha, I cook absolutely everything only on stone, gray salt - both food and pastries! And I put this salt directly into the batch, without dissolving in water!
Salt in bread dough is 2% by weight of flour - this is normal! Only we do not put the salt in the dough, but in the main dough itself, in the batch.

To control the batch, try to make such a bookmark by quantity https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/index.php@option=com_smf&topic=1625.0 , everything is verified here.
Then you will be engaged in flour, maybe there is an ambush?

Can live yeast be stored in a freezer (-18 C)? If so, how long?

Can live yeast be stored in a freezer (-18 C)? If so, how long?

It makes sense to do this if a large amount of yeast is purchased. Many users immediately cut fresh yeast into small portions (for baking) and freeze it, then put it in "pebbles" in a bag, store it in the freezer.
It is undesirable to store for a long time, they may freeze, which will affect the quality of the rise

It is undesirable to store for a long time

and how long is this what period?

I kept it for no more than six months

I have a question.
Recently, I have been kneading the dough, and when it comes up, I break off a piece and put it in the refrigerator, from the rest I bake. Then, when necessary, I take it out of the fridge, add the ingredients, knead it, put it in the heat ... Break it off ..., bake it and so on ad infinitum. What is the name of this method, yeast leaven?

We call this method "bread on an old sour (ripe) dough" and recipes for such bread are on the forum and there are many

Thank you, I'll take a look. I didn't even know what to look for.

Can you please tell me if it is possible to use dry yeast if it doubled, looking like yours, but after 40 minutes, and remained the same for two hours (then poured it out)? If yes, then increase their number or proofing time?

Can you please tell me if it is possible to use dry yeast if it rose like yours, but after 40 minutes? If so, how can you increase the number or time of proofing?

If the yeast has risen very well, bubbled, then it is active and can work in the dough.
The proving time should depend on the desire of the dough itself, the dough must be allowed to stand until the volume increases by 2-2.5 times, and this may take more or less time in different ways - it depends on the dough, the proving temperature, and the dough, the consistency of the dough.

If the yeast works, then it is not worth increasing its quantity.

[Admin]

Admin, Thank you
And can you ask another question about live yeast?
Live yeast rose up beautifully, increased three times, and then began to sink sharply. But they remained doubled, maybe a little less from the beginning. Is this yeast suitable for long-standing dough? I want to bake a cake from Vienna dough. Or is it better to take dry ones?

It is normal for the yeast to rise up with a cap and then begin to fall off. You need to catch such a state of yeast when the rise is at its peak, and then you can see along the edge of the dishes that a decline has begun - that's when we take the yeast into the dough. Do not wait for the yeast to completely fall off.
This can apply to both fresh yeast and dry yeast. And yeast dough with flour.

Yeast needs to be taken in the norm to the amount of flour, and take into account what type of baking we are talking about: bread or baked goods. Much more yeast is always taken for baking, since baking contains a large amount of eggs, sugar and especially butter.
See the recipe of the authors of the Easter cakes.

[Admin]

Admin, Thank you

[bect]

Many users immediately cut fresh yeast into small portions (for baking) and freeze it, then put it in "pebbles" in a bag, store it in the freezer.

In many, especially not large, stores, yeast is sold immediately frozen, so the question of how to store it later is not worth it, of course, when bringing it home, quickly chop it and again in the freezer, if it is not thawed and frozen, lie normally. Of course, not a year or even half a year, as it used to be in ancient times, thank God, there is no yeast deficit now, but a month, for sure, if a 100-gram pack. I haven't seen the kilogram ones for a long time.But how many of these packets were in the store is not known, therefore, yes, it is better to first check such yeast in a dough, and it is more economical than a dough = yeast multiplies in it, respectively, initially you need less of them (a trifle, but nice. In Soviet scarce and even more so in the 90s empty years it was very necessary to save) bect, Admin - Tatyana, the name is under the avatar, here I am good warm water - well, obviously not 35 * I first pour flour with sugar, it is often coldish, because it stands under my table in a bucket, and then immediately yeast, into a warm one.

I haven't seen the kilogram ones for a long time.

Yeah, but I, on the contrary, can not find 100 grams anywhere. Only 1 kg. It feels like everyone is brewing moonshine !!!

A large pack of yeast can be cut into 10-12 gram pieces and frozen - will be perfectly preserved

Hello.
I checked 2 variants of yeast in your way. In 10 minutes, not one did not rise, in about 30 minutes, but this is possible because I kept them on the table, and not near the gas stove.

That is the question:
Pakmaya yeast (dry active)

rose about 2 times, but they are not bubble at all


Fermipan yeast

on the contrary, everything is in bubbles, but practically did not rise


The containers are the same and the rice shows that the latter practically did not rise, what do you think?

Yeast works well, there are bubble caps. Now you can cook the dough. And you do not need to put them on a battery in the heat, if they are active yeast and will work on the table.

They don't have to go "above the roof" enough to work.
And the dough with the dough should rise 2-2.5 times, otherwise the dough will stop and sink by itself, then the bread will be low, vague, and it will no longer be lifted.

[not all compressed yeast is suitable for freezing]

It turns out not all compressed yeast is suitable for freezing.
I think every yeast should be checked for freeze tolerance as well as being active, to know your yeast and its capabilities! Unless, of course, the manufacturer took care of you and wrote you freezing instructions on the package.

I use Polish yeast

So they are not suitable for freezing. She divided it in portions, froze it, and did not wait, but immediately tried it. As a result: the first week the bread using frozen yeast was normal, and after that in the finished form it was lower with a worse taste and texture. I just threw it away and no longer freeze this yeast due to the uselessness of doing it for just one week. This yeast is normally stored just in the refrigerator for about a month.
A short explanation about freezing yeast by blogger Boris - bvallejo, dated July 31, 2010.

I wouldn't freeze yeast.

Even in 6 ... 12 weeks of the "Siberian Sharman", up to 40 ... 50% of the "yeast" dies! In addition, during freezing, yeast cells are partially damaged, lose their viability, some of them die off, and this reduces the elastic properties and gas-holding capacity of the dough. And dead yeast cells impair the cohesion of the gluten. The result is that the dough becomes sticky and stretchy.
Freezing yeast can be slow, fast at temperatures down to -24 ° C or deep in nitrogen at -195 ° C. It is necessary to store such yeast at temperatures from -8 ° C to -25 ° C. The longer the shelf life, the lower the temperature should be.
For freezing, select stable yeast. Stability is influenced by many factors, including the strain, its resistance to low temperatures and the degree of freshness of the yeast. It is recommended to freeze yeast that does not have a very high fermentation activity (so-called compressed yeast with medium gas formation rate). Such yeast should contain at least 30% dry matter, protein content - at least 55% on dry matter, lifting force not more than 65 minutes. Special frost-resistant baking pressed yeast is best suited for freezing.
To increase the protection of the yeast, they are sometimes treated with glycerin, sunflower oil or egg yolk (I'm not talking about linoleic or oleic acid and phosphate concentrate).
Of the yeast brands I know, Lesaffre yeast is best suited for freezing.

A source: 🔗

[Tatyana]

Tatyana, I have frozen yeast into cubes. If necessary, thawed, and they turned into "melted toffee", the same sticky and viscous. I kneaded the dough for pizza - I didn't notice the rise of the dough. Today I activated them according to your prescription. There was a hat, but there were few bubbles and not in 10-15 minutes, but longer (maybe because the apartment is cool 18-19 degrees). Please tell me how to defrost them and are they suitable? Should I throw them away? It is not even convenient to weigh such a putty. I look forward to your help.

[example]

In his example I activated fresh yeast. The lifting force of different batches of yeast can be different both in the "cap" and in the time - you need to wait. The main thing is for the yeast to rise and be active, to be able to work.

You may have to activate the yeast in a small amount (as in the example), and then put a dough on them, it works well with yeast and dough and for a longer time. It is better to choose a higher temperature for yeast to work, optimally 25-28 * С.

How to do it, read here How to create a temperature of 30 degrees at home for proving the dough?

If the yeast is from the freezer, it changes its consistency. But, the lifting force must be maintained. This may take more time.

Thank you for your prompt response. But the thing is that I have already frozen the exact same yeast and when thawing they were the same briquettes as fresh ones. And this batch turns into a putty with a pronounced smell, which confused me.

I answered already above - try to activate

I already wrote above that I activated them. They work, but I was confused by the consistency of the putty.

[Lena]

Lenabut if the "putty" is active and working?

Above, I answered:
If the yeast is from the freezer, it changes its consistency. But, the lifting force must be maintained. This may take more time.

Try, analyze, remember, write down