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and cool, it maintains its potency for several months. Try to encourage your storekeeper to keep his supply refrigerated, and even so, don’t buy yeast whose pull date has gone by. Sometimes active dry yeast is sold in open bins, and you are encouraged to scoop out what you want, put it in a paper bag, and take it home. Because exposure to warmth and air damages yeast over a period of time, bulk yeast of this type has been responsible for some densely disappointing loaves.

Whatever kind you buy, be sure to read the manufacturer’s directions for that particular yeast. (Ask to see the label if you buy in bulk.) Until recently there were just two kinds of yeast, cake and active dry, and the directions for using them appeared in every cookbook. Lately, however, several new kinds of active dry yeast have appeared on the scene, and each one of them has its own particular requirements: if you use one of them, you’ll get the best results from it if you follow the manufacturer’s suggestions exactly. Some of these yeasts are designed to work very fast, and do. They make bread that is exceedingly light, with the other characteristics of quickly raised bread, too: uninteresting flavor and poor keeping quality.

Professional bakers have long preferred moist, or compressed, yeast for its greater dependability and gassing power. It can be activated at a wider range of temperatures, making it a little easier to use. It keeps for only a week or two in the refrigerator, but since bakers buy so much of it, it is convenient for them to keep a fresh supply on hand. Sometimes they do not object to selling a pound of it, or even half a pound—so if you like to use moist yeast and have been having a hard time finding it in the stores, try your nearby bakery. Fresh moist or compressed yeast is creamy-smooth looking, beige in color, not crumbly or grayish. A pound is enough to raise 64 normal loaves of bread—a serious consideration.

You can store compressed yeast wrapped airtight in the refrigerator for about two weeks; frozen (at 30–32°F) for as long as two months. If you purchase a large quantity, we suggest cutting it into one-baking-sized chunks, and wrapping them airtight in foil before freezing them. To prepare refrigerated compressed yeast for baking, dissolve the yeast in water that is no warmer than 85°F. Soften frozen yeast in water that is even cooler.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST

Before leaving the subject of yeast, it is perhaps worth mentioning that nutritional yeasts—torula, brewer’s, etc.—are quite dead and will never raise bread. Even if you are using them for the sake of their nutritional wallop, in addition to regular yeast, their overpowering flavor does not add much to the appeal of the loaf, and one protein (glutathione) present in the pulverized yeast cells can actually keep your dough from rising well.

About the Ingredients:

Water …

As a general rule, water that is good to drink is good for bread-making. Some minerals in the water strengthen the gluten and act as food for the yeast, but exceptionally hard or alkaline water can retard the yeast’s action. If your water is very hard, you may find that you get a better rise if you add a tablespoon of cider vinegar or lemon juice to the water measure (not the yeast-dissolving water, please!). Very soft water will make a soft, sticky dough that does not rise well. For this reason, distilled water (the softest of all) works poorly in baking.

The amount of chlorine normally used to treat drinking water is in low enough concentration that it does not disturb baker’s yeast, but where a less vigorous leaven is working—for example, in Flemish Desem Bread—don’t use chlorinated water.

Many liquids can be used in bread—water, milk, fruit juice, soymilk, potato water, applesauce, egg, cooked cereals, and others. Water, though, is the most universal and one of the very best: it lets the full vital flavor of the wheat shine out strong and clear. Please note that whatever liquid you use, the yeast should be dissolved in water only, and at the proper temperature.

… & Salt

Salt’s most