How to “Make” Fresh Baker’s Yeast at Home

Fresh yeast and baker’s dry yeast are among the relatively inexpensive productsBut why are you going to buy them if you can make them yourself at home? You can make it from commercial fresh yeast, to extend its use for a long time.

how to make homemade yeast

A quantity of yeast can be increased and then frozen portions to have a dose when we need it. To multiply baker’s yeast, you need:

Ingredients:

½ cube of fresh baker’s yeast or an envelope of dry yeast (7 g) 100 ml of water 100 g of light flour (common or spelt, but not whole wheat) 15 g of sugar

Elaboration:

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place until it has clearly increased in size. Depending on the room temperature and the leavening power of the yeast, an hour or two may be enough, but you can let it sit much longer or even overnight to produce more. Freeze the risen dough in portions. You can do it using an ice tray. If you decide not to freeze it because you are going to use it all in the next few days, you can keep it in the fridge.

Frozen yeast cubes can be kept for several months. To bake, extract the required amount, thaw at room temperature, then process as usual.

Use less yeast, but let rise longer

If you want to extend the duration of your yeast reserves, you can use smaller amounts than those indicated in the recipes and let the dough rise for longer.

In addition to “yeast saving”, this has the advantage that baked goods are more digestible and can develop a finer aroma instead of a dominant yeast flavor.

In many recipes it is recommended to add half a cube of fresh yeast or two packets of dry yeast for every 500 g of flour, but the amount of yeast can be easily reduced to five or ten grams of fresh yeast or to 2-4 g of dry yeast if we let the dough rise for a longer time.

In order to obtain a good dough, in addition to a sufficient fermentation time at a warm temperature, also it is important to knead well until you get a very smooth texture.

Practice makes a master

If you have little experience baking with yeast and especially with yeast that you have made yourself, Be patient.

Is better approach the matter with a little willingness to experiment instead of meticulously adhering to the specifications of the recipe you want to reproduce. Little by little you will get the point and then it will be easy for you.

Prepare enzyme water or rejuvelac without yeast

If you no longer have yeast in the house, you can make your own yeast with a little effort and patience.

Enzyme water is highly digestible and can be produced without a yeast as a starting point.

Enzyme Water Recipe

Ingredients and utensils:

500 ml still mineral water 1 date (without sulfur dioxide preservative) 1 teaspoon brown sugar 1 clean jar with screw lid

Elaboration:

Sterilize the glass jar. Put the date and sugar in the glass and fill it with water. Close the jar with the screw cap. Place the jar in a warm but shady place (25-30 °C). Leave it for three to eight days. Open the lid once a day so there is a little air exchange and the resulting pressure can escape.

After two or three days, the yeasts naturally contained in the dates begin to multiply intensely and small bubbles appear on the surface of the glass.

The water becomes cloudy and bubbles increase. When the bubbling subsides, the enzyme water is ready to use.

The liquid should be slightly fermented but it should not smell unpleasant or musty. Bubble formation should increase when the glass is shaken.

Since it is not possible to control which microorganisms the final product contains during the production of enzyme water, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems should be careful. The growth of undesirable microorganisms can never be completely ruled out. If the mixture smells unpleasant or there is mold, it is mandatory to discard the mixture and start again to be safe.

Baking with enzyme water

The enzymatic water is. The best result is achieved by making a dough with 100 g of light flour and 100 ml of enzymatic water and letting it rise for a day.

The previous mass It is then mixed with the other ingredients of the recipe and has to be raised again. Proofing times may be longer than indicated in normal yeast recipes.

The general rule is that 100-125 ml of enzyme water for 500 g of flour, lor that corresponds to a package of dry yeast or ½ cube of fresh yeast.

If you have recently prepared the enzymatic water, the leavening power is not as strong and it is recommended use twice the amount, that is, 200-250 ml for 500 grams of flour.

In order for the consistency of the dough to remain the same, the liquid in the recipe must be reduced by the amount of liquid from the yeast water added. It is important to briefly agitate the yeast mixture before removing the required amount, because the yeast settles in the bottom of the container.