September 8, 2020 - 10:01pm
Brewer's yeast
Good day everyone.
I have a Ciabatta bread recipe I'd like to try. It calls for 5 gr of fresh brewer's yeast (1.5 / 2 gr if you use dry brewer's yeast). However I know little to nothing about brewer's yeast other than there seem to be many different kinds. I'm not sure where to go from here. Any help would be appreciated.
Video recipe here. The printed recipe is in a foreign language to me thus the video version.
Thanks for any advice.
Rich
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What kind of yeast do you have? More than likely it is brewers yeast. The recipe for the biga doesnt require a lot of yeast.
Thanks for the welcome back Mini Oven. So, my go to yeast for most things I bake is SAF Red Instant. I also keep some Fleischmann's Active Dry yeast and Red Star-Quick Rise yeast on hand.
So then is the yeast I have on hand considered Brewer's yeast? Can use the SAF in this recipe in the same amounts as called for in the recipe?
Rich
The Italians refer to baking yeast as beer yeast, so the recipe is asking for normal fresh bakers yeast.
It makes sense since bakers yeast was originally derived from the brewing industry.
OK thanks. We you reference bakers yeast I assume that's the fresh cake yeast that come in a block and you crumble off what ever amount you need?
Rich
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clarify and make certain I understand. I'm to make this bread I'm using 1.666666666666667 grams of SAF Red instance yeast.
Thank you all again. I'll post a photo when this bread is done. It'll be a few days as I have to run down so Semolina flour.
:) I'll go weigh a teaspoon of instant yeast....be back soon. Right now enjoying the sunrise on a clear mornng with a cuppa and a tractor driving by and birds singing. Golden jet plane trails in the sky. Somebody is going places...
edit. Back again. Just shy of half a teaspoon if you please. I got 1.8g close enough.
Well I have it fermenting as I type this. I have a scale that weight in grams. But only in whole grams. So I weighed out 2 grams and then took back a couple of pinches. We will see what happens. Thanks.
Congratulations! :). Taste?
Taste is good. Inside is chewy. The crust is a little tough.
Now let me explain a couple things. I've been trying different ciabatta bread recipes. I follow the recipe as close as I can but I do not following the baking instruction perfectly. I haven't been steaming as in putting a pan of water in the oven. I haven't been using a baking/pizza stone either. When the dough is read I slide in into the oven right on the rack (it's on parchment paper).
What I'm trying to achieve is ciabatta type bread, but I want a softer crust (Dentures), a little larger crumb than in this last bake. I also want the height/rise/oven spring I got with this bread in this bake.
My best so far that fits what I'm looking for (see picture below). That bread has the crust and the crumb I want but not the size/height.
So in summery, I would like a softer crust a bit larger crumb and a larger slice of bread. I have achieved all three but not in the same bread.
I hope this all makes sense. Writing is not my best skill.
One way to get a soft crust is to cover the cooling bread with a thin towel as it cools. Bagging overnight will also soften the crust. Long steaming in the oven will toughen crust. You'll figure it out if you keep good notes and put together the variables you're after. There may be some compromises.
The loaves look good! You can also play with hydration lowering it and letting it proof longer on parchment. Might want to make them wider so there is less weight per cubic cm. But Tall ciabatta? Hmmm. Yours look about right.
Cover with a well wrung out thin fine woven towel while proofing. Keeping the skin moist will help with thin crust and high rise before baking and prevent sticking. Depends on your ambient humidity, floured towels work well too. Experiment.
Thank you. I'm really glad you are and a few others this forum are so helpful and patience.
RichieRich