• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Meaty with a dash of veggies

  • Recipes
    • By meal
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / dinner
      • Snacks
    • By main ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By carb
      • Rice
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter
  • Recipes
    • By meal
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / dinner
      • Snacks
    • By main ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By carb
      • Rice
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Kitchen
    • Kitchen how-tos
    • Cooking ingredients
    • Kitchen tools
  • Food Tales
    • Edible Garden
    • Dining
  • Newsletter

Baker’s yeast

02.13.2021 (Updated: 03.24.2022)

There’s yeast that infects the skin, there’s yeast for brewing (beer, for example) and there’s yeast that’s used for baking.

Yeast bubbling in jar

This is about baker’s yeast — the stuff that makes bread dough expand and become lighter and softer.

You may have come across bread recipes with instructions to sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water and leaving it there until the mixture is bubbly. Is that always necessary? Yes, BUT ONLY if using dry yeast.

Kinds of yeast

In the most simple terms, there are two kinds of baker’s yeast: fresh and dried.

Dry and compressed yeast: illustrated

Fresh yeastis either wet (cream yeast) or compressed. I won’t bother with wet yeast since it’s not really sold for home use. Compressed yeast is wet yeast with most of the liquid removed. It is sold in blocks. We don’t use compressed yeast at home because it is highly perishable and we don’t bake bread all that often.

Dry yeastis sold as eitheractive dryyeast orinstantyeast. The granules of instant yeast are smaller than those of active dry yeast. There is alsorapid dryyeast but we don’t use that at home.

Dry yeast is what most home bakers use as it is the kind available in groceries and supermarkets. The obvious question, of course, is whether active dry yeast and instant yeast can be used interchangeably. The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes BUT preparation differs.

Rehydrating dry yeast

Active dry yeast is sprinkled in lukewarm water, left until bubbly (also known as leaving it to bloom) and only then can flour be mixed in. And remember — it’s lukwarm water. If the water is too cold, the yeast mixture will not turn bubbly. If the water is too hot, you kill the yeast and it becomes unusable.

Instant yeast does not require rehydration. You can measure it and add it directly to flour and water to make a dough. However, if you’re working with a very dry dough (meaning the recipe calls for a very small amount of liquid), it might be a better idea to first allow instant yeast to bloom in lukewarm water.

Storing dry yeast at home

The best practice is, once the packet is opened, transfer the yeast to an air-tight jar and keep the yeast in the refrigerator where it will last for a couple of months. Some say that keeping dry yeast in the freezer prolongs it life for up to a year, but that’s not something we’ve tried.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, the blog owner earns commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

In the spotlight

Filipino pork adobo with rice, egg, tomatoes and fried saba bananas

Slow cooker Filipino pork adobo

Smoked Salmon and Furikake Onigiri

Smoked salmon and furikake onigiri

Japanese beef rice bowl (gyudon)

Japanese beef rice bowl (gyudon)

Korean fried chicken wings

Korean fried chicken wings

Shrimp spring rolls

Hungry for more?

Subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest posts in your inbox.

No spam. Read the privacy policy.

More Cooking ingredients, Kitchen

Salchipapas, Peruvian streetfood of sliced sausages and French fried potatoes

Perfect French fries: tips and tricks

sea salt

What’s the difference between sea salt and rock salt?

Difference between fish fillet and fish steak, illustrated

What’s the difference between fish steak and fish fillet?

Quail eggs

What are quail eggs and how are they cooked?

Sidebar

Connie Veneracion, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Home cook and writer by passion, photographer by necessity, and good food, coffee and wine lover forever. I write recipes, cooking tips and food stories. No AI is used in creating content for this blog.

More about me and Umami Days.

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • No AI
  • Contact

Created by a human for humans · Copyright © 2025 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved