Bread Machines For Dummies by Glenna Vance, Tom Lacalamita Read Free Book Online Page A

yeast is yeast — it’s all pretty much the same.” This just isn’t true; the only sameness about it is the basic fermentation action. Scientists have actually “fingerprinted” various yeast strains and categorized them so that vintners will be able to select a particular strain of yeast to produce the desired wine flavor from their fruit. The yeasts used to make bread haven’t yet been categorized as minutely as those used for wines, but it’s only a matter of time.
    Another question we often get is whether one can eat fresh yeast for nutritional purposes. We’ve heard it said that during the cold winter months, miners in the northern Midwestern states would take approximately an ounce of fresh yeast in their lunch box to prevent them from catching a cold. Today, no dietician or food scientist would recommend eating fresh yeast, as it would cause gastrointestinal distress. But it’s true that yeast is very high in the B vitamins. That’s why people use brewer’s yeast as a nutritional supplement.
    Some brewer’s yeast is a byproduct of the brewing industry. After five to ten beer fermentations, the yeast loses its vitality and is no longer acceptable for making beer. It’s then dried and sold as brewer’s yeast, a nutritional food. Over the years, the term has become generic, and baker’s yeast is often sold as brewer’s yeast. The processing and drying of this yeast is carefully controlled so that it’s biochemically uniform and remains inactive; the life enzymes that ferment sugar are dead, but the nutritional value remains. This “brewer’s yeast” provides valuable amounts of B complex vitamins and protein when taken as a nutritional supplement. It has a naturally pleasant, toasted, nutty flavor as compared to the bitter aftertaste of the brewer’s yeast that is a byproduct of the brewing industry.
    Inactive dry yeast is used in animal feed formulations as well. Biochemists and food scientists have also discovered that yeast enhances food flavors. Inactive yeast is used in seasoning many food products, such as cheese- flavored popcorn, canned soups, and even ice creams. If you’re into reading labels for ingredient contents, you often see yeast as an ingredient. Unless you’re reading the label of a bakery product, the yeast is being used as a flavor enhancer.
    Now that we’ve given you enough yeast information so you will get a blue ribbon for your science fair yeast project, the next few pages provide you with practical, bread-related yeast information.
    The Types of Yeast You Can Use for Bread
    Yeast is a
leavening

agent.

A leavening agent puts air into a mixture, thereby increasing its volume. In baking, the leavening action may be produced by chemical or biological means.
    We like to think of yeast as similar to the seeds we plant in the garden. We plant seeds in warm, moist soil and they sprout and grow. Both yeast and seeds need food and warmth. While seeds flourish on soil and sunlight, yeast thrives on sugar and warmth. Seeds eventually produce more seeds, and yeast cells reproduce to form more yeast cells.
    Compressed yeast (cake yeast)
    Every now and then, a consumer will want to know, “Can I use cake yeast in my bread machine?” The answer is yes — just crumble it on the top of the flour like you would sprinkle on the dry yeast. Cake yeast, or compressed yeast (the terms are used interchangeably), is still available in some sections of the country. It’s fresh yeast that has not been dried and therefore contains 70 percent moisture.
    Cake yeast is sold in small cakes in the dairy section of the supermarket. Unlike squares of chocolate, which have been standardized in size (a square of chocolate is equal to 1 ounce of chocolate, no matter what the brand name), cakes of yeast are not all the same size. The common weights are 0.6-ounce, 2-ounce, and 8-ounce.
    To determine the amount of cake