Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch

Have you ever wanted to know how professional bakers could afford to bake bread and rolls and give them away with the price of yeast as high as it is?

Here's the secret: SAF-Instant Yeast! A 16-ounce will last for all the home baking most people will do for months, or perhaps years. It is supposed to last one year, but it can easily last 5-10 years, according to a number of sources. It is to be stored in a cool dry place.

SAF Instant Yeast is a powerful and fast-acting yeast. It can be added to dry ingredients directly. It is twice as active as regular compressed yeast.

If you love using your bread machine and want a reliable yeast that does not need to be proofed (can't remember the last time I did that), then this yeast will make your life much easier. While this is not a rapid yeast, the bread does seem to rise more quickly than with packets of yeast from the grocery store. This saves time and gives you an empowered feeling instead of the "Is this going to rise or not?" feeling.

The yeast can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer and is very convenient to use. Unlike the yeast cakes, you don't have to worry about mixing it with water or milk. You just measure it into the bread machine.

Here is the recipe I love making for Focaccia bread. It turns out wonderful and you can start it in the bread machine or make it by hand. We serve this in slices or squares topped with butter and fresh rosemary or an herbed cream cheese. Perfect with homemade soup in the winter.

Focaccia for the Bread Machine (start in machine, finish by hand)

2 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons Saf instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons freshly crushed sea salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cups all-purpose flour (the Baker's Catalogue sells an amazing flour)

Measure the water, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil and flour into the bread pan. Program for white bread, dough cycle and large loaf. After the dough has been kneaded, you can put it in a large stainless bowl and cover the dough with a damp cloth. I normally forget it is in there and catch it just before it is about to rise over the top of the pan, so it still works, either way. You could also use half the ingredients for just one loaf if you want to let it rise in the bread machine

pan.

Let it rise until double in a warm place. My secret it to turn the oven on and then almost immediately off (just leave it on until you feel some heat on your hand) and this seems to create a "just warm enough" environment for bread to rise. Punch down and divide into thirds. Roll out two squares and one elongated loaf. This works well on the regular size cookie sheets. If you have a larger cookie sheet, you can roll the dough into two 8-inch squares.

Make deep indents with the end of the rolling pin handle at regular intervals. Then brush with olive oil. Let the bread rise until almost doubled.

Either sprinkle with sea salt or sprinkle with dried or fresh rosemary and sea salt. You can also top the dough with tomato slices, onion slices and sliced and pitted Kalamata olives before baking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

After the bread cools, it will slice easily and it freezes very well. I normally slice two loaves and cut one into squares for sandwiches.

To make an Herbed Cream Cheese: Blend together 1/3 cup butter, 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, 2 teaspoons dried parsley, 2 teaspoons dried rosemary and 1 teaspoon dried thyme.

The idea for this bread came to me after visiting a sandwich shop at a garden center in Seattle. After arriving home from visiting my grandmother, I knew I had to try to make the cream cheese and the bread because they were perfect to serve with homemade soup.

This bread has a lot of possibilities so you can vary the toppings to suit the types of soups you are serving.

The Instant yeast always works and with a bread machine, you end up feeling like a professional baker. The results are sure to impress. The bread always has a "fresh from the bakery" taste unlike the taste of breads made with packets of yeast.

~The Rebecca Review

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I run my automatic bread maker at least twice a week, so I go through a lot of yeast. I measure out my own dry bread mix according to a couple of recipies and store it in the freezer. I mix five batches at a time. To start the machine on any given day, I just reach for a single-batch container.

When I am putting up the dry mix, I am committed. I have to be sure I have enough of each ingredient to start with. Having a pound of Saf Instant Yeast on hand saves me from running to the store for the little 4 oz. jars or fiddling with teensy-weensy foil packets, which are just the wrong size. I store the instant yeast in the freezer, too, by the way.

I don't worry about ingredients much. I add a tablespoon of vital gluten to each batch to make up for any deficiency in the flour. However, there is one ingredient that has to be perfect: the yeast. If it "don't go," I've wasted the first batch. Then I have to get good yeast and go back and add it to unused batches. Been there; done that!

I've bought three one-pound bricks of Saf Instant Yeast in the last couple of years. They have given consistent results from first to last. The days when I ruined loaf after loaf trying to use yeast from the supermarket are over.

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I have used SAF yeast before-had it in the freezer for over 3 years without a problem. I ordered this yeast 6 weeks ago from Amazon, put it in an airtight container, and refrigerated it. It worked great-was using it to make a loaf of bread one at a time (not a new recipe) over past 12 hours and none of them rose. I decided to proof the yeast and it was dead. I then checked the packaging which I had saved from the original container and there was NO date next to "Best if used by". Now, I am going to a Christmas party to which I was going to bring homemade bread, and its too late to make a fourth loaf. Please, check for dates when receiving this product. I am very disappointed.Saf Instant Yeast, 1-Pound Pouches (Pack of 4)

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This is my absolute favorite yeast. Someone (and for the life of me, I can't remember if it was Alton Brown or America's Test Kitchen) measured the packet yeasts and found them to be wildly inconsistent significantly over or under the stated amount. Maybe that explains some of my past issues with raised breads, but since I started using the SAF yeast, it's been absolutely perfect. Great in a bread machine, no proofing required, and I always get a consistent rise. I've used the bulk Red Star Active Rise as well and didn't like it at all I just didn't feel it was as consistent. The SAF never makes me wonder if it's getting old or losing it's potency it just works.

I tend to bake in phases, so I also appreciate the shelf (or in my case, freezer) life. I usually keep a small container in the refrigerator and the rest bagged up in the deep freeze. I even found some at the back of the freezer that was about three years old and it still worked perfectly. I have *never* had this stuff fail on me.

Since I'm not that serious of a baker, I can't compare Instant Yeast to Cake Yeast or other exotics, but for the bread machine and everyday bakers, this is the best I've found.