fresh yeast, help me please.

chrisfreelander54

Call into Tesco to pick up a few things
On the way home from work, while I was there I passed by the baker section and cheekily asked for som fresh yeast .

The thing is I have decided to bake a loaf, using said fresh yeast, but I can't seem to activate it, I have put about 5 to 10 grams into some warm water as advised by the baker but nothing has happened, what am I doing wrong, I've even added a little sugar and placed it on a warm radiator to see if this would help.

Thanks in advance.
Chris.

meritaten

was the water warm enough? it needs to be hand-hot if I remember rightly. the way we were taught was that if you could only just keep your little finger immersed in the water and not think 'ouch, too hot' it was right.

chrisfreelander54

meritaten wrote: »

was the water warm enough? it needs to be hand-hot if I remember rightly. the way we were taught was that if you could only just keep your little finger immersed in the water and not think 'ouch, too hot' it was right.

No, just warm, baker never said it needed to be that hot :mad:, :rotfl:

I've decide to put some hot water in the sink and place the jug with the yeast and warm water in the sink to see if this will help.

meritaten

Yes, that may well help - if it doesn't 'activate' in 15 mins its a lost cause. The yeast may not even be 'alive'. does it smell 'yeasty? you did right to add sugar - we allways added a little to 'feed the yeast'.
its a fine line between warm and too hot.
another thing we were told was never to take yeast out of the fridge and try to activate it - it should be at room temperature.

You will probably be bombarded with experienced bread makers all saying I am wrong! but, this is the way I was taught many years ago when fresh yeast was the norm in bread making.

chrisfreelander54

meritaten wrote: »

Yes, that may well help - if it doesn't 'activate' in 15 mins its a lost cause. The yeast may not even be 'alive'. does it smell 'yeasty? you did right to add sugar - we allways added a little to 'feed the yeast'.
its a fine line between warm and too hot.
another thing we were told was never to take yeast out of the fridge and try to activate it - it should be at room temperature.

You will probably be bombarded with experienced bread makers all saying I am wrong! but, this is the way I was taught many years ago when fresh yeast was the norm in bread making.

Smelled very yeasty, was placed in the fridge as soon I got home with it, then removed a piece at 5am this morning to allow it to reach room temperature.

I decided to place it in the oven while oven was cooling down after co kind a potato gratin, this seemed to have helped a bit, so hopefully it will do its thing.

On the bright side if it doesn't work out then at least I have more to try, and if all else fails I still have some dried yeast in the cupboard.

dollydog

When I learned to bake bread -at school about 300 years ago, we added about a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast, then creamed it (as you would butter and sugar for a cake) the mixture turns to a liquid, and this is the point at which you add the warm water. This method has never failed me.Also Morrisons fresh yeast is very good if you have a store near you.

Artytarty

I put a plate or cloth over it too as yeast likes to work in the dark.

meritaten

dollydog wrote: »

When I learned to bake bread -at school about 300 years ago, we added about a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast, then creamed it (as you would butter and sugar for a cake) the mixture turns to a liquid, and this is the point at which you add the warm water. This method has never failed me.Also Morrisons fresh yeast is very good if you have a store near you.

yes, this is exactly what we were taught to do to! I assumed chris had done it this way.

The smell in the cookery classroom was fantastic as 18 or so batches of bread baked!

panterka

I know two methods to activate:
1 with warm milk,
2. my favourite with sugar. You need a large mug, fresh yeast and a 1-2 spoonfuls of sugar. Crumble your yeast and mix with sugar using a teaspoon until it becomes liquid. Leave near the radiator or in warm kitchen until it bubbles and at least doubles the volume.

chrisfreelander54

meritaten wrote: »

yes, this is exactly what we were taught to do to! I assumed chris had done it this way.

The smell in the cookery classroom was fantastic as 18 or so batches of bread baked!

Unfortunately I just got told to add tepid water to the yeast and sugar to feed, so I added warm water to the yeast stirred it up then added the sugar, but will try this method now instead, fingers crossed it works.

chrisfreelander54

panterka wrote: »

I know two methods to activate:
1 with warm milk,
2. my favourite with sugar. You need a large mug, fresh yeast and a 1-2 spoonfuls of sugar. Crumble your yeast and mix with sugar using a teaspoon until it becomes liquid. Leave near the radiator or in warm kitchen until it bubbles and at least doubles the volume.

Thanks for the advice.

If I was to do this now (method number 2) would this be alive still in the morning, say 11am, as this is about the time I wake up on my first night shift?