| Q | What are the different types of yeast available? |
| A | Anchor Yeast produces the following: Anchor Instant Yeast, Gold Star Instant yeast, Anchor Bread Machine Stick Pack and Brewer’s Yeast. |
| Q | Must I dissolve Anchor Instant Yeast? |
| A | No need to dissolve – add directly to the dry ingredients. |
| Q | What are the advantages of Anchor Instant yeast? |
| A | Anchor Instant yeast contain Vitamin C, which activates the yeast quickly, resulting in the dough rising in a short time. It is time saving. The other advantage is that the Vitamin C adds to extended shelf-life and all baked products last longer than usual |
| Q | What does yeast require to work and rise a dough? |
| A | The yeast requires food in the form of sugar (or any other sweet ingredient); it requires moisture in the form of water, milk or egg; and it requires favourable temperatures. |
| Q | What is a favourable temperature for yeast to work? |
| A | The liquid temperature should be between 30 – 35 °C, that will be a mixture of warm water and cold water. The room temperature for the dough to rise should be between 25 – 30 °C. Warm conditions slows the working of yeast. |
| Q | What do you mean with “knock down” the dough? |
| A | A rested dough will have air bubbles present and in order for the dough to rise a second time, after the shaping, one has to destroy the bubbles. The knuckles are used and the dough is pressed down to release the air bubbles. |
| Q | What is yeast? |
| A | Yeast is a biological raising agent. The most common yeast variety used is Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Anchor Yeast produces 2 types of yeast: Brewer’s Dry Yeast and Anchor Instant Dry Yeast.Who Discovered That Yeast Makes Breads Rise? If you’ve ever made bread dough by hand, you can imagine what a strain it would be to knead dough all day.
About 6 000 years ago an unknown Egyptian baker took a tip from wine makers and tried using his feet instead of his hands to do the hard work. Legs are stronger than arms, and he got the added benefit of gravity in massaging the dough. The real surprise though, was when he took the bread out of the oven, his “food-kneaded” dough ended up fluffy and chewy, not crisp and crunchy. The accidental by-product of using his feet was that the bread dough got a good dose of the yeast that grows naturally between people’s toes. The practice quickly spread to other bakers. They didn’t have a clue why “foot-kneaded” bread came out fluffy, but they did know that it was easier to make and that consumers seemed to like it. Despite its ‘downtrodden’ origins, this softer bread became so valued that Egyptian workers accepted it as payment at the end of the workday, making them the first “breadwinners” in history. |
| Q | What is Baking Powder? |
| A | Baking Powder is not a natural product, but is a chemical raising agent which produces gas, in the oven during the baking process. Products baked with baking powder generally have a chemical after taste. |
| Q | Why must yeast not get in contact with salt and sugar? |
| A | It is recommended that the yeast be added to the flour, after the salt and sugar has been mixed through the flour. Direct contact with salt will destroy the yeast cell and direct contact with sugar will feed the cells quickly and a lot of the activity is lost in the process. Too much food at once causes the yeast to slow down. |
| Q | What is the shelf life of Yeast? |
| A | Instant yeast: 2 years and Brewer’s yeast 12 months. |
| Q | Can Instant Yeast be used again if only 5 g yeast is used at a time and the other stored? |
| A | Every packet of Instant Yeast is nitrogen flushed for freshness and to retain high activity levels. As soon as the packet is opened, the yeast is exposed to oxygen which starts reducing the activity levels of the yeast. We therefore recommend that the entire 10 g packet is used once off and none is store for a later stage. |
| Q | How much yeast is used for bread and how much yeast is used for sweet or savoury bakes? |
| A | Basic bread requires 10 g Instant Yeast to rise 1 kg of flour. If you are making sweet or savoury dough, which is enriched with other ingredients, the we recommend 1 x 10 g Instant Yeast per 360 g – 500 g of flour. |
| Q | Can I replace butter or margarine with oil? |
| A | Yes, you can, but the texture will be coarse with large holes. The bake will also crumble more when sliced. Use 30 ml oil for 30 g margarine or butter. |
| Q | Can I substitute water with milk? |
| A | Yes, you can. You must first bring the milk to a boil and allow it to cool down to lukewarm before use. If the recipe has a combination of milk and water, bring the milk to boil and add the cold water. Wait until completely cooled to lukewarm before use. |
| Q | What are some ways to use leftover bread? |
| A | This simple item really helps to make your meals go that much further. Need ideas? We rounded up a handful. A thickener: Add a few chunks of bread to thin soup, it’ll add a bit of substance.Breadcrumbs: Ask your kids to help you crush a few slices of bread. Use the crumbs to make a pie topping or to coat fried chicken. You can also freeze the crumbs and use them later – you never know when they’ll come in handy.
Croutons: Slice bread into small cubes, toast them in the oven and sprinkle them over a soup. Bread-and-butter pudding: Stale bread is perfect for making this tasty treat. Frikkadels: Add two slices of stale bread soaked in milk to bind mincemeat before rolling it into balls. Handy tip: When you have a few spare Rand’s in your purse, buy extra bread and keep it in your freezer. Take it out the night before you need it so it’s defrosted – it’ll still be fresh. No need to pop to the shop. Bonus. |
| Q | What is lukewarm temperature? |
| A | To get a favourable lukewarm temperature, make the following: Mix a third warm tap water with two thirds cold tap water; for example: 200 ml warm water added to 400 ml cold water to obtain 600 ml lukewarm water. In Bread Machine baking, cold water is recommended, as the machine heats up fairly quickly in the baking process. |
