Ingredients: Commercial Yeast

At Bourke Street Bakery we use commercially made compressed fresh yeast, which is a living one-celled fungus with a life span. Using fresh yeast every day keeps us ahead of the use-by dates for our breads. For home bakers, dried yeast is an easier and more convenient option most of the time, although we still recommend using fresh yeast whenever possible. You will need to check the use-by dates on both fresh and dried yeast. If you use active dried yeast instead of fresh, you will need to halve the amount used in the ingredient list and hydrate it with warm water, using about 10% of the water from the recipe, before adding to the other ingredients.