With the confinement, many people have found the taste (and the need) to make homemade bread again. It is indeed relatively easy when you know the recipe and the tips to succeed. However, dry or fresh baker's yeast is lacking in many supermarkets. We have here two options available to us if we care about fresh bread. You can first make your homemade sourdough. This is what is most effective, especially as it only requires two ingredients! Otherwise, you can make your own homemade baker's yeast as a breakdown aid using a few recipes.
Did you find cubes of fresh yeast? Note that you can freeze them later and dissolve them in lukewarm to slightly hot water (but not too much so as not to kill the yeast) to “reactivate” them. If you have dry yeast, you can also feed it to make it reproduce. This naturally increases its stock. Finally, some bakers sometimes give or sell it. However, when they have a lot of work to supply their customers with bread, not all give it, which is understandable. It costs nothing to ask!
1. A homemade beer-based baker's yeast recipe
To make it, you will need 100 ml of unpasteurized beer (or cider). If the beer is pasteurized (like many store-bought beers), your recipe is less likely to work. So, opt for a craft or Trappist beer, for example. This will allow the bread to rise better! Then, you need the essential ingredient of any baker's yeast recipe: sugar to feed the yeast. Here, count a teaspoon of sugar and add a tablespoon of flour. Mix everything and let stand overnight at room temperature. If it hasn't taken, leave for a few more hours. You will get 50 g of fresh yeast to keep in an airtight jar.
2. Baker's yeast made from potatoes
To make it with a potato, choose a medium-sized one that you will peel and cook in 4 cups of boiling water. Once well softened, crush it and add 1 large spoon of sugar and another of salt. The salt preserves the mixture. Let everything cool down quietly and add this preparation to the cooking water. Cover and let ferment in a warm corner. To help the process, you can add a sachet of dry yeast. However, this is optional. After a day or two, it should have fermented. If the fermentation failed, start over. This is not an exact science, and sometimes it takes several tries. It's worth it!
Last tips for making your own baker's yeast:
Above all, respect the doses of salt and sugar. Indeed, putting too much salt could, for example, dry out the preparation. Also, use clean, sterile equipment. Bacteria can harm your yeast. Finally, the last piece of information, baking soda does not replace baker's yeast. However, it easily replaces baking powder.
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