Danielle Moore
Yeast is best known as a leavening agent. But the unicellular fungi can do much more than just make the dough rise: yeast is healthy.
What is yeast?
Most people associate yeast with high-calorie baked goods like a pizza or Easter braid. Few people know that yeast is also healthy. Different fungal organisms are summarized under the name yeast – baker’s yeast is just one of them. While the small blocks of yeast from the refrigerated section are used for baking, brewer’s yeast is used for beer production, for example, and wine yeast for wines.
How to store yeast
After purchase, fresh yeast cubes are stored in the refrigerator, where they retain their potency for around two weeks. The cube can be cut as often as you like during this period. Fresh yeast is also suitable for freezing.
Especially when using fresh yeast, you should be careful not to use overlaid cubes that have been in the fridge for too long. You can recognize this by the dark brown discoloration and crumbly consistency. In addition, yeast that has been stored for too long takes on an unpleasant smell. Powdered yeast, on the other hand, has a much longer shelf life: stored cool and dry, it will keep for many months.
What should be considered when buying yeast?
You can buy yeast in all supermarkets, discounters, and health food stores. The fresh yeast is in the refrigerated section, a cube usually weighs 42 grams. You can find the powder in the baking ingredients. Large bakeries often use liquid yeast. You can also find many vegan yeast-based spreads, especially in organic shops and health food stores.
That’s why yeast is healthy
Yeast contains healthy ingredients that are impressive. It scores particularly well with vitamins B1, B2, and B6. Minerals such as potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc are also found in food. Yeast also ensures beautiful hair, skin, and nails because it contains biotin and folic acid. Because the food is usually only consumed in small amounts, yeast is also available in capsule form if you want to benefit from the valuable ingredients.
Let yeast rise: Here’s how it works
To prepare a dough you have to let the yeast rise. Warm temperatures are particularly important for this. How to prepare:
- For processing, fresh yeast is first roughly crushed with your fingers and then mixed with lukewarm liquid before it is brought together with the other ingredients. Dry yeast, on the other hand, is mixed with the other ingredients without preparation.
- The dough then has to rest and rise – regardless of whether fresh or dry yeast was used. Warm outside temperatures are important for this: the dough should be in a warm environment of up to 30°C. For example, it can be placed close to the preheating oven or covered with a cloth outside in the sun.
- After about an hour, the dough should have doubled in volume. Now it can be processed further or stored in the fridge until it is processed the next day.
