How to Replace Yeast With Quick Acting Yeast

Quick-rise yeast and active dry yeast both cause bread to rise.

Commercial yeast comes in various forms. Fresh yeast, sold in compressed cakes in the refrigerated section of your supermarket, was the first to appear on the market. This yeast is alive, active and ready to add directly to your mixer. Active dry yeast is composed of dormant yeast cells coated in a protective shell of starch and yeast by-products. Soak it in warm water to dissolve the coating and reactivate the yeast. Quick-rise yeast, or bread-machine yeast, is produced in finer particles that do not need pre-soaking.

Things You'll Need

• Bread dough ingredients
• Quick-rise yeast
• Mixer or bread machine

Instructions

1. Skip the stage of soaking the yeast in warm water. This is not necessary with quick-acting yeast.

2. Add the quick-acting yeast to the dry ingredients. Don't let it come into direct contact with the salt and sugar, which will inhibit the yeast's activity.

3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients in your bread machine or mixer. Knead until the wet and dry ingredients come together in a smooth, elastic dough.

4. Let the dough rise until doubled in size. Punch it down, and shape the dough into loaves. Bread dough made with quick-rise yeast doesn't require a second rise before it is placed in the pans.

5. Bake the bread as you normally would, once it has risen again in the pan.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are using pre-measured envelopes of yeast, one envelope of quick-rising yeast substitutes directly for one envelope of active dry yeast. If you are using bulk yeast, reducing the amount of quick-rising yeast by up to 25 percent will still result in the correct amount of rise.

• It is always better to use less yeast, rather than more. Too much yeast can cause unpleasant, fermented flavors in the bread.

References

• "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen"; Harold S. McGee; 2004
• "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread"; Peter Reinhart; 2001
• "The Professional Pastry Chef"; Bo Friberg; 2002
• Red Star Yeast: Using Instant Yeast
• What's Cooking America; How to Use Yeast in Bread-Making; Linda Stradley