Recipe For Success: Five Tips For Baking With Yeast

Unpredictable Yeast

Hi everyone! We are back with another blog post in our series “Recipe For Success,” where we share with you our tips and tricks for baking. Today’s focus is baking with yeast, as this can be very tricky for many people! Yeast is a living thing, so it does not always seem predictable or simple to work with. Unfortunately, it can be easy to accidentally kill it and end up with a dough that doesn’t rise, which is not what anyone wants! But, practice makes perfect, and the more you work with yeast, the easier it will get. That’s why we hope that today’s post gives you all the knowledge you need to succeed in baking with yeast!

What is Yeast?

Now, what is yeast? Let’s start there! Yeast is a microorganism that converts carbohydrates and sugars into carbon dioxide. In baking, this creates air bubbles which get trapped within the elastic dough and result in the bread rising. Therefore, yeast is known as a leavening or raising agent. When you use yeast, it’s important to keep it at a warm temperature, as this is what keeps it alive and helps it to proof the dough. However, you don’t want it to become too warm because this may kill the yeast. We’ll get into that a bit more later on in this post. Most importantly, keep in mind that yeast is a living thing, so you need to give it optimal conditions to stay alive and act as a leavening agent in your bread.

1. Know the type of yeast you are using

If you don’t know what type of yeast you are using, then you won’t know how to properly combine it with the ingredients for your dough. This can result in a myriad of problems, from killing your yeast to slowing down the dough’s rise to an end result that rises but tastes incredibly yeasty. Knowing the type of yeast you are using is an essential part of successfully baking with yeast. So, let me introduce you to the different types of yeast!

Types of Yeast: Fresh Yeast

There are two types of baker’s yeast: fresh yeast and dry yeast. Fresh yeast comes in a small square and it is wetter than dry yeast. You will want to use it quickly, as it doesn’t keep for very long on the shelf or in the fridge. To mix this into a dough, crumble it into warm liquid ingredients (usually water or milk) and let it melt. Then you can combine the yeast and liquids with the rest of your dough ingredients. Do not heat up liquids to a temperature higher than 96 degrees F or 36 degrees C – this will kill the yeast! Fresh yeast is used very commonly in Scandinavia but less commonly in the US and the UK.

Types of Yeast: Dry Yeast

When it comes to dry yeast, which is more common in the US and the UK, there are also two types: active-dry and instant. Active-dry yeast needs to be “activated” before you can use it as a leavening agent. To do so, add it to warm liquid ingredients and stir until it is dissolved. You can add a bit of sugar if your recipe calls for it – this just gives the yeast more to feed off of. Let this sit for 5 minutes until it is foamy. This is proof that your yeast is alive and well!

Instant yeast does not need to be activated or even combined with liquid ingredients first. You can simply add it to the dry ingredients. You may also notice that some of our bread recipes have different quantities of active-dry versus instant yeast. Because instant yeast granules are finer than active-dry granules, our recipes call for 2 tsp of instant yeast OR 2.25 tsp of active-dry yeast. Be very careful to use the amount that corresponds to the type of yeast you are using; otherwise, you could add too much yeast which would either result in an overproofed dough or an end result that tastes a lot of yeast.

2. Understand the type of dough you are working with

When it comes to yeasted dough, there are three types: lean dough, enriched (rich) dough, and laminated dough. Why is it important to know which type you are using? Well, it will impact how quickly the yeast can help the dough rise because of the different ingredients added to the different types of dough!

Furthermore, within these types of dough, there are also two types of fermentation, direct and indirect fermentation. Direct fermentation involves using one of the three types of yeast and adding it directly into the dough. This type of fermentation takes less time (a few hours). Indirect fermentation involves the use of a pre-ferment, such as a sourdough starter (levain) or poolish. This process takes longer (a few days), but may result in a more flavorful end product. Some pre-ferments use yeast, but a much smaller amount than direct fermentation, so that the rising process takes much longer. Now, this may all seem a bit confusing, but don’t worry. For the sake of today’s post, we are focusing on direct fermentation!

Lean Dough

Lean dough is a dough that is low in fat and typically consists simply of yeast, water, salt, and flour. The end result is a crustier and chewier bread, like a baguette for example! You do not always have to knead a lean dough; it is much more forgiving and you can use a different method for mixing, like stretching and folding. This dough also tends to rise much faster than an enriched dough, as it does not have many (if any) added ingredients beyond the four mentioned previously!

Enriched Dough

Enriched dough starts with the same basic ingredients as lean dough but is, as the name suggests, then enriched by added ingredients. These are typically fats and oils, like eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. The end result is much softer, fluffier, and sweeter than a lean dough. Think of cinnamon rolls, brioche, challah, or any similar type of bread! Now, all of these added ingredients inevitably inhibit the yeast’s growth, meaning it will take longer for this type of dough to rise. For this reason, you may see recipes for enriched dough that use more yeast than a recipe for lean dough would. We typically use the same amount of yeast for all yeasted dough but just adjust the rising time accordingly.

Laminated Dough

Laminated dough is enriched dough that is laminated with sheets of butter. For example, croissants or any of our wienerbrødsdej (Danish pastry dough) recipes use this type of dough. This is an enriched yeasted dough that encases a block of butter and is then rolled out and folded over itself several times until layers are formed. This gives the final pastry an incredible flakiness. The significant amount of added butter to an already enriched dough means that this takes even longer to rise. The process of making the dough, shaping pastries, and letting them proof can take up to 8 hours!

3. Pay attention to how you combine your ingredients

We already mentioned this above when discussing the different types of yeast, but make sure you know how you should be combining your ingredients. If you are using fresh yeast, crumble it up and add it into warm liquid ingredients (usually water or milk) and let it melt. Then you can combine the yeast and liquids with the rest of your dough ingredients. If you are using active dry yeast, do the same. If you are using instant yeast, combine with your flour and other dry ingredients before adding liquids. However, this is probably the most forgiving type of yeast, so you can also add it to liquids first – it won’t really make a difference.

Most importantly, for all types of yeast, do not add salt directly to the yeast! Salt can inhibit yeast’s growth or even kill it, causing your dough to struggle to rise. Of course, the amount of salt a dough recipe calls for usually is not enough to drastically harm the yeast, but you never know what may happen! For optimal results, add salt along with dry ingredients once the yeast is dissolved and has been activated (if necessary).

4. Pay attention to temperature

As mentioned already, yeast needs to be in a warm environment in order to grow and help your dough rise. You should proof your dough at a temperature of 75-82 degrees Fahrenheit (25-28 degrees Celsius) for optimal results. You should also make sure that the dough itself does not get too hot or too cold. When you combine your dough ingredients, do not heat up liquids to a temperature higher than 96 degrees F or 36 degrees C – this will kill the yeast! A good way to think of this is that your liquid should be “fingervarm” (finger warm), meaning you can touch it with your finger comfortably and it doesn’t hurt or burn you.

Furthermore, you should know that colder temperatures will inhibit yeast’s growth. This goes for both the ingredients and environment that it is proofing in. If your ingredients are all cold from the fridge, then your dough may take longer to rise as a result. Now, a cold proofing environment is not always a bad thing, as a long rise at a lower temperature could give dough more flavor. In fact, in the autumn or winter, I love to proof bread dough outside (not at or below freezing!) overnight and then bake it in the morning. You can also put bread dough in the fridge overnight for a longer proof. Yeast does not necessarily die from reaching a low temperature, but its growth will become more and more inhibited the lower the temperature gets. In most instances, I would recommend bringing it back to room temperature before baking it. Just keep this in mind if you want to refrigerate or freeze any yeasted dough!

5. Be patient with your dough

The final tip for baking with yeast is simple enough – practice patience! The previous tips are all helpful to tell you why your dough may need more or less time to rise, but the most important thing is that you give it the time it needs. If you underproof your dough, then the final product will not turn out the way you want it to. Similarly, if you overproof your dough, you will struggle to shape a loaf or rolls that will bake without collapsing. Therefore, you want to hit that sweet spot right in between. If you know your yeast, type of dough, how to combine ingredients properly, what temperature your dough should proof at, and you are willing to wait however long it takes, then you’re set up for a great experience baking with yeast and a delicious final product.

Hope this post was helpful! Please leave any comments down below if you have questions or anything else to share with us. Good luck on your yeast baking adventures!