Commercial yeast refers to a type of yeast that is manufactured and sold for baking purposes. It is a living organism that helps dough rise by consuming sugars and producing gas.
Full definition
For a number of reasons, I really prefer using sourdough starter instead
of commercial yeast for baking bread, crackers, rolls, pizza, and other baked goods.
But if you're new to sourdough bread (true sourdough bread made with a wild yeast starter and no
added commercial yeast), this post might be just what you need.
Unlike commercial yeast, which has been engineered to only contain the strains of yeast that grow the fastest, sourdough is a combination of bacteria and yeast that naturally occur in the environment.
The main difference in using sourdough starter is that it is a much slower process than
with commercial yeast.
Many commercial bakers do
use commercial yeast in making sourdough starters in order to meet rigorous production cycles, but this is not really necessary, and I don't approve of the practice.
SK: Sourdough Bread, made
without commercial yeast, uses the wild yeast in the air and on the grain to leaven the bread.
For those who want to capture and grow your own yeast to make bread for the BLT From Scratch Challenge, or for anyone who simply wants to make delicious bread at home (bread far more flavorful than that made
from commercial yeast), here's how to do get a starter going and do it fast.
Indeed, you can find starter recipes that include fruit juice, potatoes and their cooking water, and
commercial yeast online.
From its founding in 1853 in northern France, Lesaffre has grown to supply about one - third of the planet's
commercial yeast supply.
So I took info from four different sourdough and
commercial yeast recipes and came up with a SIMPLE SOURDOUGH one that bowled me over by producing a perfect panettone... soft, delicate, moist, divine!
As an alternative (and not to confuse you), you could probably use discarded starter (as long as it's in very good condition and not discolored etc. etc)
+ commercial yeast as a substitute if you wanted to.
What's also striking, he says, is that the mixture Dunham and her team identified is very close to the «Roeselare» blend that
commercial yeast provider Wyeast markets to brewers who want to inoculate a wild beer artificially.
Bread and pasta are made
with commercial yeast instead of being naturally leavened with wild yeast (sourdough).
This culture can then be maintained indefinitely, through regular feedings of flour and water, to continue to leaven and ferment loaves of bread without the use
of commercial yeasts.
The majority of bread you buy is made
using commercial yeasts that enable fast and uniform leavening useful in a large scale bread making context.
You can
add commercial yeast to this recipe to speed up the proofing time (I'm assuming you're still keeping the sourdough stater in the dough as well.).
Indeed, you can find starter recipes that include fruit juice, potatoes and their cooking water, and
commercial yeast online.
But then there are pesticides,
commercial yeasts and, controversially, the use of sulphur dioxide as a preservative.
I've noticed various differences in the loaves and because I've put up the BLT From Scratch Challenge, I thought I should go over the 5 key steps of making bread, whether you're using sourdough or
commercial yeast.
Re; Sherri; I would advise using a higher gluten flour, more water, pinch of
commercial yeast, oven temp to 450 and bake loaf to 200 degrees.
Sourdough bread has a wonderful, complex, earthy flavour with that gentle sour note on the finish, and
no commercial yeast based bread compares to it.
I then continued with the recipe as written, omitting
the commercial yeast.
Once it becomes all bubbly and active a small portion is added to your bread dough to make it rise -
no commercial yeast is required.
The commercial yeast acts as an insurance policy of sorts here.
Anna, the sourdough starter contributes flavor while
the commercial yeast ensures a strong rise and pleasant texture.
Commercial yeast is a single, isolated strain of yeast.
Everything from focaccia bread with big, yeasty holes that's crispy on the outside and pillowy on the inside to bagels that hold their shape, yeasted donuts that rise straight up instead of out and pure levain sourdough bread that rises high as the sky, all without
any commercial yeast.
I went to a holistic MD who tested me for food sensitivities and we found I was sensitive to gluten, dairy, eggs, soy and
commercial yeast.
Most of the baked products in our culture are «quick» breads leavened with either
commercial yeast that's grown in a lab or chemical leaveners.
Many people are sensitive to
commercial yeast and these gums.
I then mixed up the remainder of the flour and the other bread ingredients, minus
the commercial yeast, into an Italian - herb flavored dough.
This may seem like a waste but it is through this process that you will be creating a starter that will rise a loaf of bread just as well as
commercial yeast.
Here's what I've learned: if you use a starter (or «proto - dough» as it's called here) with
commercial yeast, it will take a long time for a sour taste to develop, because wild yeasts and bacteria are what create the sourdough taste — in fact, commercial yeast doesn't create a habitable environment for the bacteria (lactobacillus) you need for sourness.
Hello, Can I use sourdough starter to make challah bread or other breads that use eggs instead of
commercial yeast?
You will need flour, water,
commercial yeast, & salt to get going.
This recipe did not require a starter but did need
some commercial yeast.
But the sourdough, in that case, is used to help the bread rise (leavening) and it also helps to reduce anti-nutrients in the grain like phytates, and helps make it more digestible (I never get constipated when I eat sourdough bread — but I'm perpetually constipated on a diet of bread made with
commercial yeast).