Yeast
Yeast is a living microorganism sold dried for baking, responsible for leavening bread and other fermented doughs by converting sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol.
How to buy
Choose active dry, instant (rapid-rise), or fresh cake yeast depending on what a recipe calls for, and check the use-by date, since potency fades over time. Packets or jars should look dry with no clumping and no sour or off smell.
How to store
Unopened packets keep in a cool pantry until the date on the package. Once opened, refrigerate or freeze it in an airtight container to extend its life for many months. If you're unsure whether it's still active, proof it in warm water with a pinch of sugar; if it doesn't foam within about 10 minutes, it's dead and should be replaced.
Culinary profile
- Flavor
- On its own it has a faint, mineral, slightly bread-like taste, but the fermentation it drives produces the tangy, yeasty flavor characteristic of bread. Longer fermentation times deepen that complexity considerably, as in long-proofed artisan doughs.
- Texture
- Dry, fine granules or small beads that dissolve into a frothy, creamy liquid once activated in warm water.
- Aroma
- A faint, bready, slightly beer-like smell when fresh, which becomes much stronger and more appealing once a dough has risen.
How to prepare
- Proofed in warm liquid — Dissolved with a little sugar in warm water to confirm it's active before committing it to a recipe.
- Mixed directly into dry ingredients — Instant yeast stirred straight into flour without a separate proofing step.
- Used for a slow, cold rise — A small amount used with a long refrigerated fermentation to build deeper flavor.
- Used in batters — Leavens pourable batters, such as those for crumpets or certain doughnuts.
Classic dishes
American
- Soft dinner rolls — Small, enriched rolls leavened with yeast for a light, fluffy crumb.
- Cinnamon rolls — A sweet, enriched yeasted dough rolled with cinnamon sugar and baked into spirals.
- Glazed doughnuts — A rich, slightly sweet dough leavened with yeast, fried, and finished with a sugar glaze.
Italian
- Pizza dough — A simple flour and water dough leavened with yeast for a chewy, airy crust.
- Focaccia — A flat, olive oil-rich bread given its characteristic open, dimpled rise by yeast.
- Ciabatta — A wet, high-hydration dough leavened with yeast into a loaf full of large irregular holes.
- Panettone — A sweet, enriched holiday bread given a long, slow yeasted rise for its light, domed structure.
Chinese
- Bao buns — Soft, pillowy steamed buns leavened with yeast before being filled or served plain.
Japanese
- Shokupan — A pillowy Japanese milk bread given an exceptionally soft crumb through a yeasted enriched dough.
Indian
- Naan — A leavened flatbread given lift by yeast before being cooked quickly in a very hot tandoor.
- Bhatura — A fried, puffed bread whose dough is leavened with yeast or yogurt before frying.
French
- Baguette — A lean, crackly-crusted bread risen with yeast over a long, slow fermentation.
- Brioche — A rich, buttery bread leavened with yeast for a soft, pillowy crumb.
Vietnamese
- Bánh mì baguette — A light, airy baguette leavened with yeast, adapted from French bread-baking for Vietnamese sandwiches.
Middle Eastern
- Pita bread — A yeasted flatbread that puffs into a pocket as steam expands inside it during baking.
German
- Pretzels — A yeasted dough boiled briefly in alkaline water before baking for its deep brown, chewy crust.
- Stollen — A dense, fruit-studded holiday bread given a modest rise from yeast.
- Berliner — A yeasted, jelly-filled doughnut fried until golden and dusted with sugar.
British & Irish
- Crumpets — A griddle batter leavened with yeast to form its signature bubbly, porous surface.
- Hot cross buns — Spiced, fruited buns leavened with yeast and marked with a cross before baking.