Baking is a skill that has been practiced and mastered over the last several hundred years. With a few packets of active dry yeast, even a person unfamiliar with the history behind the baking of bread products can successfully make a loaf. Active dry yeast can be proofed in a matter of just a few minutes and combined with other ingredients to make any number of desserts, loaves and rolls.
Instructions
1. Pour warm water into the small bowl and take its temperature. The water should be between 95 and 105 degrees F to ensure that the active dry yeast will awaken. Water above 110 degrees F will kill the active yeast, and your baked goods will not rise.
2. Stir 2 tbsp. of granulated sugar into the warm water until it is dissolved. Open one package of active dry yeast and pour the contents into the warm-water-and-sugar mixture. The sugar will act as food for the dormant yeast as it awakens in the warm water.
3. Wet the dish towel with warm water and cover the top of the bowl containing the water, sugar and yeast. Move the bowl to a warm area and allow the yeast to "proof" or rise. Wait 10 minutes for the yeast to become active in the warm water.
4. Remove the towel from the top of the bowl and look for foam, or bubbles atop the water. The foam and bubbles show that the yeast is in fact still alive and is ready to be used for baking. If you do not see bubbles and foam expanding inside of the bowl, this yeast is no longer alive, or active, and must be discarded. Repeat the above steps with another packet of yeast until you find a package that is suitable for baking.
5. Combine the active yeast with your desired recipe. All recipes will vary, so follow each one closely. Bread recipes will typically entail several steps of kneading and resting to allow the yeast to leave bubbles throughout the dough prior to baking.
Tags: warm water, active yeast, active yeast, allow yeast, foam bubbles
