In this episode... Yeast!
Back in 2008, when gas prices started to sky rocket, there was a threat of a trucker strike! It was then that that Ellie bought two 1lb bricks of yeast from Costco in 2008.
The yeast I had used on that last large batch of bread had been opened and stored in the fridge since 2008!
This first bag, was opened up, put into a mason jar with a lid and put into the fridge. It worked good till 2014. Not bad, I think.
That last batch, got all the rest of the yeast since it wasn't rising good. (almost one cup)
I was always told that yeast was alive, and shouldn't be frozen, much less left in a warm place. From my online research for storing large quantities of yeast, I found that 99% of the people who blogged/wrote about it, put it into good sealed containers and put it into their freezers!
Since I had the other pound still vacuum sealed, I needed to prove that it was till good.
You test it by putting a teaspoon or so into a (glass/jar/cup/bowl/shot glass/etc) and a 1/4 of water or more. Then you leave it in a warm place.
If it's good, it will have a foamy head on it. Sometimes, it works better to include a teaspoon of sugar in this mixture to accelerate the process.
(Fun Fact! Beer and other sorts of alcoholic beverages made with this process. Too bad I don't drink, or I'd imbibe.)
(Another side note. In High School I used to put a bottle of unfiltered apple cider in fridge around Halloween, then open it on the Wednesday before Thanks Giving. It usually so carbonated that it generally spilled most of it before we could drink it.)
The yeast test indicated that the other bag was still good! (w00t! I didn't need to buy more and didn't have to fret that a whole bag went to waste. I hate seeing things wasted.)
So, I put most of the yeast into a quart freezer container, which was put into a gallon
Read on for the next episode of adventures with The Bread Baker!
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