What is live yeast, how to use
Dry or live yeast – which product is best to use to make your baked goods fluffy and soft. How to knead the dough correctly? How to choose and store yeast in briquettes? Find out in this article.
Any yeast is a type of unicellular fungi. Under natural conditions, they live in liquid substrates, which are rich in nutrients. In bakery, yeast is used as a leavening agent. In addition, they are added to solutions to obtain kvass, beer, mash. Yeast is rich in amino acids, polysaccharides, vitamins H, E, group B. They contain potassium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, and various fatty acids.
There are many types of yeast, but at home they most often use dry or live (fresh). How are these two varieties different?
Dry yeast looks like a coarse grayish powder. They are compact and lightweight, as they contain a minimum of moisture (8%), are economically consumed and can be stored for a long time even without a refrigerator.
Fresh yeast is more capricious, as it consists of living organisms. They should be kept in a cool place where the temperature does not exceed 10 degrees. Moreover, such a product must be carefully packaged, but the wrapper itself must be “breathable”. The shelf life of live yeast, if stored properly, is no more than 6 weeks. They are 2/3 water and provide the fastest and most intense fermentation.
High-quality live yeast has a uniform gray-beige color. In consistency, they resemble elastic plasticine. If you press on them, they will neither smear nor crumble. Such yeast is commercially available in a compressed form. They are similar to a bar, weighing 100 g.
When preparing the dough, a pack of yeast is finely crumbled and diluted with a liter of warm milk (water). It is important that the temperature of the liquid is not higher than 40 degrees, otherwise living organisms will die and, as a result, the dough will not work.
If the water is not warm enough, there will also be no fermentation.
In order for the fungi to activate faster, it is advisable to sweeten the water.
If the yeast is not very fresh, you need to take twice as much. Before dissolving them in water, moldy, dry and darkened areas of the briquette are removed. You can store compressed yeast at room temperature for no more than 24 hours. To extend the life of the product by another 2-3 days, sprinkle it with flour and fine salt. However, with such yeast, the dough will still fit worse, so the consumption must be increased.