How to use dried active yeast

Pablosmummy

Hello this is my first post so be kind...

I was browsing on here and found a recipe for bagels so as my boyfriend insists on buying fresh onion and poppyseed bagels every week for work, I thought I'd make some and save quite a bit of money. Off I popped to the shop and bought the ingredients but the only yeast they had was dried active yeast in a little tin thing. It looks like tiny little balls if that helps.
So I followed the recipe, the back of the tin says you must activate it in water so I followed the instructions, added it into my recipe and cooked it.
It was disgusting!! it was like...mega yeast, so strong it was inedible. What did I do wrong???

Any help will be appreciated as my boyfriend is now sulking because he has to have normal bread tomorrow..ha

Zazen999

How much did you use?

I use a teaspoon full for a one pound of flour loaf.

Pablosmummy

I used a teaspoon of yeast and it was 380 grams flour I think. Maybe I should use less?
But I do have to mix it with water first right? so do I then have to reduce the amount of water the recipe calls for? Sorry for so many questions, I've never baked any kind of bread before..

foreign_correspondent

hmm, I really do not know - I have been using Alinson dried yeast in my bread machine bread, I use a level teaspoon to 375g strong white flour and it tastes fine! I bung the yeast into the warm water and sugar and let it get to work for a few minutes before I chuck it all in together.

Zazen999

Hi
mine all goes in together; flour, yeast, sugar, a bit of salt, oil and water. No pre-yeast malarkey here. Waste of time - the yeast is prepared to go straight in the mix.

krishna

How long did you leave it to rise for? If it tasted really yeasty, it suggests to me that you left it to rise for a long time. The longer you leave it, the more the yeast multiplies, so the less yeast you need to start with.

Pablosmummy

Well the recipe said leave it to double in size..so I left it, but it never got bigger! I have allinson dried active yeast. I'll try again today using less yeast and see what happens. Could not kneading it enough be my problem??

foreign_correspondent

I am using the allinon dried yeast but it is not the fst acting sort, so I think it does need mixing with the warm water and sugar first to get it going - it sounds as if yours may be the same sort. However I am wondering what has gone wrong here...the fact that is didnt rise is interesting...

The little tubs of yeast do not last for long after opening - best used within a few weeks -Could the yeast be old?

did you add it to warm (not hot!) water with the sugar dissolved in it?

Did you leave the dough somewhere warm to rise?

foreign_correspondent

to see if the yeast is active, add half a taspoon of yeast to about half a teacup of warm water with 1 tsp sugar dissolved in it. Stir till the yeast has dissolved, then pop somehwere warmish (ie. not in a draught or chilly place) and see if a froth develops on top of it in 15 minutes or so.

If the yeast is live it should make bubbles when warm, watered and fed!! (much like my OH!) - if it has kicked the bucket it wont!

Pablosmummy

It did the frothing up thing so I'm guessing its ok.
I'm just waiting for the dishwasher to finish so I can get my mixing bowl out and then I'm going to try again..I'm not expecting much to be honest. If that fails I'll make normal bread rolls instead but I dont like being beaten in the kitchen, I'm usually a good cook!!

Bobbykins

Hi Pablosmummy

I don't know if this helps or not but Dried active yeast is quite different from "Fast acting" yeast (also known as "Instant" or "Easy Bake" yeast). I am not sure which yeast your recipe asks for but I know that

25g of fresh yeast is equal to 15g of Dried active yeast

and 15g Dried active yeast is equal to 7g of the "fast acting" type yeast.

You can swap from one type to the other but of course you will need to adjust the quantities.

Also, if your recipe calls for "fast acting" yeast and you are using the normal dried yeast, then you will need to adjust the amount of liquid in the recipe because you are adding extra liquid when you activate the yeast, IFSWIM (sorry this sounds far more complicated than it actually is)

Perhaps it might be best if you told us what the recipe says and we can then help?

cheers

Bobby