What about yeast?

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Now that I have all of this wheat, how am I supposed to make bread without yeast? It has a relatively short shelf life, and yeast in a jar must be refrigerated. I've tried keeping sourdough starter, and it was a pain in the butt.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), February 18, 1999

Answers

Alternative Leavens 101:

Type these terms into any search engine:

potato bread / self-rising / salt-rising bread

Yeast is not a necessity. I plan on using sourdough for most of my leavening, with some potato bread and salt-rising thrown in. Keeping a sourdough culture alive does require some effort, but to me it's less of a pain than having to eat flat bread meal after meal.

-- Why2K? (who@knows.com), February 18, 1999.


Pearlie: Do you have any cookbooks? In the Far East, they eat unleavened bread. You don't need yeast to bake bread. Ever had flat bread aka Indian Flatbread? Whole wheat crackers? Tortillas? They are all basically the same type of bread. Baking soda and powder store well. How about Irish Soda bread? I have over 1,000 cookbooks, and if you need or want a recipe, I would be happy to give you some.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), February 18, 1999.

1) Sour dough - there are a LOT of wild yeasts in the air, so you get sourdoough fairly fast, or you buy a couple starter envelopes and just keep it going. You can also dehydrate your starter and rehydrate it later.

2) I have NO problem with my yeast sitting on my shelf for a couple weeks with no refrigeration (using Fleischman's).

Chuck who will REALLY miss the bread machine and the fresh bread to wake up to!!

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 18, 1999.


Yeast may not be a necessity, but it sure helps. There's a good discussion of it here. Dried yeast can be kept for some time if kept cool.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), February 19, 1999.

Pearlie -- love ya, but what's your priorities? In a tither about yeast? Flat bread is fine. You can make sandwiches or whatever out of pita.

Only if you envisage going into a bake shop business after TSHTF would concern about yeast and sourdough starter be warranted. (Another post-Y2K business idea courtesy of a@AisA.com)

-- A (A@AisA.com), February 19, 1999.



Pearlie, I talked to Red Star Yeast (which is the brand I use) and they told me that their yeast, never refrigerated but kept cool, dark and dry, will keep potent for about a year. They told me they didn't test longer than that because they've never had any need to. However, the spokesperson added that similar European yeasts advertise that they last much longer. If you have difficulty finding unrefrigerated Red Star, call the 800 operator for the firm's name and ask who sells it in your area. (Sorry, no longer have their number.)

Also, if you plug in "Irish soda bread" to a search engine, it will produce scores of sites. As for flatbreads, we ate some fresh-baked nan (Indian) at an Afghani restaurant only yesterday--great stuff. You can pull up lots of recipes for flatbreads too if you search on the word. Flatbreads don't have to be that dry, stiffish consistency, you can make a soft one that's very acceptable. Start experimenting now!

Flour - when I checked with Pillsbury's, they told me their bread is good for about 18 months fresh off the shelf, but whole wheat (higher fat content) is good for only half that time. Storing in sealed buckets with oxygen absorbers should make the flour last longer and, I'm told, kill any weevil larvae.

Note: For sweet-tooths - Big Lots has pound cake in cans.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 19, 1999.


I have baked bread all of my life. I am a firm believer in the fact that Red Star is a better yeast and lasts longer. I buy nothing but the vacum packed bags of it. They weigh 2 lbs. I keep them in a cool dark dry closet. When the efficy of yeast starts downward, you can double the amount you use and keep going. I never have to throw it away. You can usually buy the 2# packs of Red Star at bakery supply houses. You can also buy rolled oats. both the quick and the old fashioned in 50# bags, plus lots of other goodies for baking. I think we would have to be "down" several years before I completly ran out of yeast. And then....you CAN make it!

-- Taz (Tassie@AOL.com), February 19, 1999.

I'm partial to pasta myself. Also if you'll have sufficient water available and willing to whip up your own sauce, tomato paste and herbs take up less less space that jars of ready to use sauce

jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), February 19, 1999.


Thanks, everyone, for all of the good tips!

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), February 19, 1999.

Look for Saf-T-Yeast...comes in vacumn packed 1# pkgs like those bricks of coffee. I have bought it at our regular grocery and our local health food store always carries it...you can also order it from King Arthur Flour...type that in for their website(don't know how to make a link-sorry)...excellent catalog with everything you ever wanted to know about bread making. This yeast puts Red Star to shame for fast--can have four loaves mixed,kneaded and baked in two hours. A lb. lasts me at least 6 mos. and we make all our own bread...will give you excellent results with whole wheat flour so you don't produce those "bricks"!!

-- MUTTI (windance @train.missouri.org), February 19, 1999.


I have never before heard that you can make yeast. How do you make it?

-- c.p. (phishes71@hotmail.com), February 20, 1999.

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