Okay, so I’ve been getting into baking lately, and I decided to try my hand at using fresh yeast instead of the instant dry stuff. It’s called “organic fresh yeast,” and I was pretty curious about how different it would be.
First off, I had to actually find the stuff. It wasn’t sitting next to the regular yeast at my usual grocery store. I ended up checking a couple of different places before I finally found it in the refrigerated section near the butter and eggs. It looked like a little, crumbly, beige-colored cake.
Getting Started
The first thing I did was read the package, obviously. I was dealing with something live here, I had to respect the process!
- It said to crumble it, that seemed straight forward.
- Then you proof it! I learnt that you gotta “proof” it to make sure it’s alive and kicking.
The Proofing Process
I grabbed a small bowl and mixed the crumbled yeast with some lukewarm water and a tiny pinch of sugar. Stir, stir, stir, and then I let it sit for about 10 minutes. I watched it like a hawk, I was so excited!
And guess what? It started to get all foamy and bubbly! It actually smelled kind of nice, a little bit sweet and, well, yeasty. That’s when I knew it was good to go. That means, the yeast is alive and ready for baking!
Mixing the Dough
After that, I just followed my usual bread recipe, but instead of adding dry yeast, I poured in this bubbly, yeasty mixture. I mixed everything together – flour, salt, the yeast mixture – and started kneading.
The dough felt… different. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe a little softer or more elastic? It was definitely interesting.
The Results!
I let the dough rise, punched it down, shaped it into a loaf, and let it rise again. Finally, I baked it, and oh boy, the smell! My whole kitchen smelled like a bakery.
The bread turned out amazing. It had a really nice, open crumb, and the flavor was just… deeper, I guess? More complex than what I usually get with instant yeast. It’s hard to describe, but it was definitely tastier.
So, yeah, using organic fresh yeast was a cool experience. It took a little more effort, finding it, proofing it, and all that, but the results were totally worth it. I think I’ll be using it again for sure, especially for special occasion breads.
It’s like giving your bread a little extra love, you know?
