What Is the Difference Between Active Dry Yeast & Fast Rising Yeast?
Yeast is one of the earth's oldest organisms and an essential baking ingredient. Its first documented use goes back as far as ancient Egypt, but yeast itself existed for much longer. Now in the modern age there are different types of baking yeast, the two main types being active dry yeast and fast rising yeast. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
What Is Yeast?
-
Yeast is a living microorganism with thousands of different varieties. It has been used since the beginning of history, most notably for baking bread and fermenting wine and beer.
Active Dry Yeast
-
Also called "baker's yeast," when active dry yeast is added to the other ingredients in bread, it introduces air bubbles to the dough. This makes the bread lighter and softer as it is filled with thousands of tiny air pockets. This is called "leavening." Other leavening agents exist, but yeast is the most widely-used
-
Fast Rising Yeast
-
One of the drawbacks of using yeast for bread-making is that the process of fermentation--or rising--takes a long time. Fast rising yeast was invented to speed this process by about half. Fast rising yeast goes by many names, including rapid-rise yeast, quick-rise yeast, instant and bread machine yeast. Fast rising yeast is finely ground and absorbs moisture more quickly, thus completing the fermentation process in less time.
The Difference and Applications
-
Regular yeast and fast rising yeast are generally used interchangeably, with a few exceptions and differences. For instance, if using fast rising yeast, about 25% less yeast should be used.
Regular yeast is activated in warm water while fast rising yeast can be added to dry ingredients.
Some recipes may call for rapid-rise yeast specifically. In this case, regular yeast should not be used. However, both types can be used in recipes calling for regular yeast.
-
References
- Photo Credit Martin Poole/Photodisc/Getty Images
More Like This
Comments
-
useful information
