How to Freeze Fresh Yeast

Intro: How to Freeze Fresh Yeast

I find that fresh yeast works so very much better than the dried stuff. The problem is that it has a very short shelf life. It keeps in the fridge only a matter of days before it starts to go brown and die. Given that recipes call for only a small amount, and I bake bread only once or twice a week, it becomes very wasteful.

So now I freeze the yeast in loaf-sized portions and just take it out as I need it. Here's how.

STEP 1:

First weigh your yeast. My bread machine needs about 11 or 12g (a scant half-ounce) per loaf, so I have enough here for ten loaves.

STEP 2:

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add about twice as much flour. It's not critical how much flour, but it helps to make it up to a convenient multiple of loaves. In this case I've made it up to 350g, so each one will be about 35g.
Rub the yeast into the flour as if you were making pastry. You should have a fine homogenous mixture with no lumps.

The idea is to coat all the particles of yeast with flour so they they don't stick together and will thaw very quickly.

STEP 3:

Put a piece of cling film onto your scales and weigh out 35g of your mixture. Twist into a ball the size of a golf-ball. Keep it nice and loose so that it crumbles easily when you come to use it.

STEP 4:

Put all the balls into a ziploc bag and freeze.

STEP 5:

To use, take a ball out of the freezer and crumble it onto a plate. It will defrost almost immediately, so by the time you have weighed out your other ingredients for the loaf it will be ready. Just add it to the pan after everything else, sprinkling it over the top. You can set the machine going straight away.

Tadaaaa! Perfect results every time!

Comments

[SuziG4]

Hi I’ve followed your instructions and yeast now in the freezer , how do you proofcthe yeast to make sure it’s active/fresh? I wondered as it now has flour in it? Thanks

[stevemaskery]

Well the only way is to try it really. I've never tried frothig it up with sugar as you would do traditionally, but if you try it and it works please let me know.
It doesn't last for ever in the freezer, but it does last a long time - months not just weeks. But I've been on a low-carb diet for the last year. Lost 18lb so far, but I really miss my home-made bread. Plus, if I do eat bread now, just a bread roll for a burger, say, I have a terrible night's sleep afterwards.
RIP Steve's bread, I fear :(

[padbravo]

I can not belive what I am looking at!!!
PLS!... the envy is killing me, making my life bitter, in shear misery ...

I have a bread machine, and I have been able EVER to make a loaf like this!!!

pls, post your recipe!

I dont know why, every time, on the second "rise", the loaf grows up, and then, it "deflates" and the loaf is half the size of what i see on the picture of yours...

[stevemaskery]

Hi Padbravo
LOL!
So you end up with a brick, eh? Cratered in the middle with a high ridge all around? Been there done that.
Try adding more flour, your dough is too wet and not strong enough. Do not
rely on the quantities given in the machine manual, a LOT depends on the
flour you use (unsurprising, really).
My recipe:
320g water
1 tsp salt
2 tsps sugar
1/4 tsp vitamin C powder
1 Tablespoon baking margarine
100g granary flour
150g strong wholemeal flour
200g strong white flour
1 ball yeast

I do not rely on the program of the machine, I use the dough program
first, then, when it has risen to the point I want, I set the bake
program.

I bought a bread machine 20 years ago and it was great.
When it eventually went pop, about 10 years ago, I bought my present
one. Same manufacturer, direct replacement model. But the recipes and
the programs are different and I've never been able to get it to work in
the same way, hence the use of two separate programs.

But definitely reduce your water or increase your flour.
HTH Steve

[padbravo]

HAHAHAHAH.... A BRICK!!!
Yeah, that was all about... Tks for your kindly answer, and I will follow your advise... I will make it more dry.... I try a sort of this idea before, but, I think that I added too much flour, so, in the end, it was uncocked or crude...

and tks for the idea... dough and bake...

Those machines must be "open source" or with parametric programs... I have been not able to find a ROM to make it again (but, I had not much time devoted to it, anyway)

[snoop911]

What brand bread machine is that? Kinda looks like it was made with a Zojirushi BB-HAC10.

BTW, have you ever added amaranth flour to substitute some of the white?

[stevemaskery]

It's a Breville, branded as Anthony Worral-Thomsom before he screwed up his entire career and became persona non grata.

Never heard of amaranth flour. Never heard of a Zojirushi BB-HAC10, come to that.

[omnibot]

Oooh, I'm gonna have to try that.