How long can I keep yeast?

[freemotion]

Don't know about the storage ability of it, but I used to get Saf in the grocery store in one pound bags, vacuum packed, when I lived in Maine years ago and I LOVED it. Made a lot of bread back then, so it did not last for more than a year or so before I ran out. You can mix Saf right in with your dry ingredients, but I always did the standard proofing first, out of habit.

 

[Sunny]

Ok, this may sound like a dumb question.

But how do you proof yeast??

Im a Newbie and havent made home made bread yet..
But I want to try..

 

[freemotion]

Proofing is the step in bread making when you sprinkle your dry yeast on a small bowl of warm water with maybe a little sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. It is to see if the yeast is still alive because it will start to grow and bubble as the colony increases. This is done so that you don't waste all your flour and other ingredients by accidently using yeast that is no longer any good.

eta: there are no dumb questions here!

 

[On Our own]

I also always proof my yeast - part out of habit and partly out of the unconfirmed belief that it rises better. I have no scientific evidence of this but doing it doesn't hurt so I do it.....

BTW can't proof also refer to the first rise of the bread? Just wondering cause my oven has a proof setting which sets the oven at 100 degrees. (Doesn't work too well and uses too much energy - sitting it somewhere nearby the fireplace usually does the trick! )

 

[freemotion]

Where is keljonma, the cooking teacher, when we need her?!?!? I was taught by my mother, not a book, so I was taught to proof my yeast. Not sure about the first rise, but that sounds right to me, too. Hmmmm.....

 

[lupinfarm]

usually the container says how long you can keep it... mine comes in bottles and must be kept in the fridge after opening (i buy like 20 bottles at a time LOL) and is good for like a year.

 

[Mackay]

heres an article on how to do sourdough. I'm putting it in my file. I have worried over yeast also. There is always baking soda and you can make a soda bread.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/buehler97.html

 

[freemotion]

But don't worry too much, either. Much as we love bread, we could live a long and healthy life without it.....I wouldn't WANT to, but I could. You can still make pasta and casseroles and cereal and pie crusts from whole wheat without yeast, and baking soda lasts and lasts, so you can make crackers and such as well.

 

[Mackay]

Ya know. when Ive been preparing my survival stashes I think of what could be enjoyed, savored, a rare commodity.

I have not stashed lots of flour. Just some. About 40 pounds for two years or so... So on that cold winter night a couple of times a year a rare loaf of homemade french bread can be served with that soup we canned in the fall.....yyyuuummm!

The things that make life worth living!