With confinement, many people have rediscovered the taste (and the need) to make homemade bread. It is true that it is quite easy when you know the recipe and the tips for making it a success. However, dry or fresh baker’s yeast is in short supply in many supermarkets. Here we have two options available to us if we value our fresh bread. You can first make your own homemade sourdough. This is the most effective, especially since it only requires two ingredients! Otherwise, you can make your own homemade baker’s yeast in troubleshooting using a few recipes.
Good to know: Have you found cubes of fresh yeast? Know that you can freeze them for later and dissolve them in lukewarm to slightly hot water (but not too much so as not to kill the yeast) to “reactivate” them. If you have dry yeast, you can also feed it to breed. This allows you to naturally increase your stock. Finally, some bakers sometimes give or sell them. However, in this period when they have a lot of work to provide their customers with bread, not everyone gives it, which is understandable. It costs nothing to ask!
1) A recipe for homemade baker’s yeast made from beer
To make it, you will need 100 ml of beer unpasteurized (or cider). If the beer is pasteurized (like many commercial beers), your recipe is less likely to work. So opt for a craft or Trappist beer, for example. This way, the bread will rise better! Then, you need the essential ingredient of any baker’s yeast recipe: sugar to feed the yeast. Here, count a teaspoon of sugar and add a tablespoon of flour. Mix everything and leave overnight at room temperature. If it didn’t take, leave for a few more hours. You will get 50 g of fresh yeast to keep in an airtight jar.
2) Potato-based baker’s yeast
To make it with a potato, choose one of midsized which you will take care to peel and cook in 4 cups of boiling water. Once well softened, crush it and add 1 large spoon of sugar and another of salt. Salt helps preserve of the mixture. Let cool slowly and add this preparation to the cooking water. Cover and leave to ferment in a warm corner. To help the process, you can add a sachet of dry yeast. However, this is optional. After a day or two this should have fermented. If the fermentation failed, start over. This is not an exact science and several attempts are sometimes necessary. It’s worth it !
Last tips for making your own baker’s yeast:
Above all, respect the doses of salt and sugar. Indeed, adding too much salt could, for example, dry out the preparation. Also, use clean and sterile equipment. Bacteria can harm your yeast. Finally, last information in passing, baking soda does not replace baker’s yeast. However, he replace baking powder no problem.
