Beginnings and Yeast

Hello big wide world via the internets!

I cannot wait to share my passion for delicious food sans fancy restaurant, snooty waiters and budget breaking prices with you all! I plan on writing about my cooking and baking adventures-recipes included-with the occasional post concerning cooking for large groups, themed meals, kitchen gadget must-haves, healthy options, and other various and sundry topics of my choosing mixed in.

As this is my very first time blogging, I will keep this first entry short so I can go back to figuring out all the ins and outs of this website.

There are few things that I cook or bake that truly make me think the word "homey" in a Norman Rockwell kind of way. One of those items is fresh baked bread, of really ANY kind. I love fresh bread! When I was a freshly minted newlywed, one of the first things I wanted to learn was to make homemade whole wheat bread. I had really no idea where to begin other then my trusted Better Homes and Garden cookbook, which had a short tutorial. Overall, their instructions are quite good, and they included some pictures to help guide you along. As my first attempt in bread making resulted in some very delicious tasting bread, but not very fluffy, I have chosen yeast as my first topic.
One of the most important, let me emphasize IMPORTANT, steps in breadmaking is what temperature water you mix into your yeast. Yeast are living organisms like you and me, and just the same way we prefer a certain temperature range to live in, they do as well. From various personal breadmaking experiences, yeast are happiest at temperatures from 120-129 Fahrenheit (exception maybe being my Kitchenaid dill bread recipe?). If you hit 130 ABORT, do not add your yeast, just stir your water till you hit the happy point. To reiterate-water that is too hot will scald your yeast-and I can't imagine why we would expect anything other than creatures living in deep sea vents to replicate and metabolize when being scalded. If you do not get up to 120F your yeast essentially will want to stay in bed. However, if you are close to 120 and don't feel like overheating the water and spending time stirring it to cool, you can always factor in MORE rising time as a smaller amount of yeast will be activated and it will metabolize more slowly. This is another reason why many recipes of the very helpful/novice friendly variety tell you a rising time, but then also how much you should expect your dough to enlarge.
The size of your dough after rising is something you should always pay attention to. Its your backup to "Oh no what if the water was too hot? or my yeast was old? Is this even close to right??. If you are relatively close to doubling...or whatever the recipe indicates you should be...then forge ahead!
Three more points:
1. Rapid Rise Active Dry Yeast is NOT the same as Active Dry Yeast despite very similar packaging. Pay attention to which one your recipe calls for, some have rising times dictated for both.
2. Pay attention to the expiration date on your yeast. This is why my first batch of bread was great tasting but not the desired consistency. Yeast die in time just like all other lifeforms. I just didn't have enough living yeast to produce enough CO2 to make fluffy cloud-like bread. I'll discuss this process-how yeast works and why-in another post.
3. Some of you might be wondering how I can get so particular about temperature measuring. No, I'm not using the thermometer in my medicine cabinet, but rather a digital cooking thermometer. Actually its a digital meat thermometer that my grandmother gave me amongst other gadgets post college graduation. I recommend digital as it takes out all the guessing, just be sure to not touch the sides/bottom of your water container and swirl it around the water while it measures for a more accurate overall temp. Wait till the numbers quit changing for your final temperature reading.

Ok so this was SUPPOSED to be short. I apologize for keeping you so long. Hope this was helpful though, and best of luck in the kitchen!