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Yeast — a Matter of Life or Death

Up until now, the subject of baking has been a relatively simple matter. You mix up a bunch of ingredients, put the mixture in a pan, bake it. Pretty straightforward business.

With yeast, things get a bit weird, because yeast is no mere ingredient. It is a living organism. Like a hamster, it requires care and feeding or else it will die. Creepy? Sure, a little. But that’s what makes yeast so interesting.

The most convenient way to purchase baking yeast is as a dry, granular product. This is called active dry yeast. Active because it’s still alive — just dehydrated. Add liquid and warmth and the yeast begins to grow, exhaling, as a side effect, carbon dioxide, which creates the little bubbles you see in a loaf of bread.

The type of yeast recommended for the recipes in this book is quick-rise instant yeast. This product is an extra-speedy breed of yeast, which can be mixed directly into the dry ingredients in the recipe. It works much more quickly to rise bread dough than does ordinary yeast. Especially handy if you are an impatient person or in a big hurry for pizza. Purists may frown at this high-speed superyeast, but frankly, it’s nobody’s business.

You can also use regular, slow-speed active dry yeast in any of the recipes in this book that call for yeast. But you’ll need to dissolve it in liquid before you add it to the flour, and the rising time of the dough will be considerably longer.

Both kinds of active dry yeast are available in individual premeasured packets or in small cans or jars. If you do a lot of baking, a jar of yeast granules is more economical. But if you only use yeast once in a blue moon, the packets may be more convenient.