Did you know that the active dry yeast you buy in the store (or anywhere else, I suppose. I don't want to discriminate against roadside yeast stands or other non-store venues) is mostly dead?
Seems that the tiny little extrusions that you see are a sheath of dead yeast wrapped around a very small amount of live yeast.
Have you ever noticed that when you proof your yeast (which you should always do with active dry yeast) the water it's in turns brown? That's the dead yeast washing off, exposing the live yeast, which starts to enjoy the sugar or honey you have given it as soon as the dead stuff gets out of it's way. The dead yeast get that way in the heated drying process that allows it to be called "dry" yeast.
Rapid Rise Yeast is a similar animal, however it is produced by a gentler drying method (It's still heated, just in a less harsh way) which kills far fewer little yeasts. You do not have to proof rapid rise yeast because the live yeast are much more readily exposed by the mixing and kneading processes of most recipes.
Just thought you'd like to know!
1 comment:
Well, I'm not sure this is true, as the water turns brown with moist yeast cakes, too, which I used to be able to get from the Whole Foods store. If it's killed by heat treatment for drying, then the moist stuff shouldn't be so afflicted.
Anyway, you can buy active dry yeast by the ten pound bag, but I've never seen rapid rise for sale in bulk like that.
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