Commercial Yeast

A lot of what you’ll read about using commercial yeast to leaven bread follows old tropes more than modern scientific understanding of bread baking. I’ve never found the need to “bloom” yeast, or “feed” it sugar. Salt in your initial mix doesn’t kill yeast. It’s more resilient than you think.

Fresh yeast (aka cake yeast) is the preferred commercial yeast. If a reliable source for fresh yeast is available, this should be your go-to for recipes calling for commercial yeast. If reliability is important (say you’re doing a pop-up in a new city and need to make five hundred pizzas in two days) and a source of fresh yeast is questionable, use instant.