Bread yeast cultivation

[hedgerow]

Be fore you all go on about using bread yeast in wine and beer its not for that.
the question is this, since i am ub40 at the moment and have been for several months we need to slow the spending alot, one of things we would like to keep doing is making our own bread, we can get hold of most of the ingrediants cheaply enough but the yeast is getting exspensive as we are unable to get a free pinch of yeast from asda anymore , so as we use 7gm per loaf which normaly comes as dried pellets in a sachet, is there away for multipling the yeasts, as if we were doing a starter bottle ?
to allow me to keep a strain going for a week before i have to restart another yeast packet,

what are you ideas and suggestions??
hedgerow pete

[Cellar_Rat]

Absolutely. Make it up like with 2 cups of sugary boiled water. Get it started. Use half freeze half (of just keep it chilled in the fridge). I used to make a lot of bread using this method. Each time top up with one cup of water & tsp sugar.

Frozen yeast keep for ages. I do not aspire to perpetuate using my own yeast IN WINE a) 'cos its got to get weaker (polluted/diluted). b) the sales of yeast pay for the development of ones. c) and 99p for 500 liters of grape seems a silly risk, But I do keep a few PET bottles in the freezer - lid loose & upright until frozen. Well two actually - and they are LALVIN 111 summat - but don't tell Bob. There were 'samples' from a active fermentation - just in case. And of course it helps with silly expeditions into melon wine - don't get me starter.

PS Just bought a 'Belter' of a book - What NOT to ferment!! (did you like the Edwin T gag eh eh??)

[lockwood1956]

PS Just bought a 'Belter' of a book - What NOT to ferment!! (did you like the Edwin T gag eh eh??)

Was water melon in there Brian?


cant see any reason why bread yeast cant be made into starters like wine yeast as Brian states

regards
Bob

[hedgerow]

sounds like a plan , what i was thinking of doing was making up a starter bottle of the bread yeast and adding the water and yeast amount together, at the start

[hedgerow]

Ohbeary, thanks for the ideas, as for being at home I wish!!, I spend most of my day walking around Birmingham knocking on building sites and factory doors and at the job centres appling for jobs, I will greatfull when I do get one so I can have some time off !!!!!

As for the bread, We have a farmer friend that sells us a bag of whole wheat for a couple of quid and we stick it in a blender for flour so it s nice a cheap, its that asda used to allow people to ask for a pinch of fresh yeast from the bread counter, unfortuntly everyone else heard and asked and they have stopped doing it, so when we started to buy yeast its a £4 a packet of 8 sachets and sometimes we make more than a loaf a day it sounds cheap but was getting very exspensive to use, its cheaper to buy premade bread than it is so make it your self,

I like the idea of using a starter bottle set up , evan if it is to split a sachet in half it makes a massive differance to us

[Cellar_Rat]

Was water melon in there Brian?


regards
Bob

I have not received it yet - but I fear it may very will be (and if not I will personally write it in the cover!!)

Cheers

Brian

[spritzer]

so when we started to buy yeast its a £4 a packet of 8 sachets

Is that for fresh yeast Pete ?

I normally buy the dried yeast, and its about 50p for a box of 8 sachets, in both Asda and Tesco


Edit: I just looked on mysupermarket.... Asda is 50p for 6, Tesco is 67p for 8.... sorry for the mistake

[David]

asda used to allow people to ask for a pinch of fresh yeast from the bread counter, unfortuntly everyone else heard and asked and they have stopped doing it, so when we started to buy yeast

I thought this was just a false rumour when I read it on a forum last year because both our local Asdas still hand out free yeast, as do all our local Tescos, in varying amounts between just enough for one loaf and about half a pound of fresh yeast.

It's supposed to last up to 3 months if frozen, so large amounts get split up for our weekly bread/pizza sessions.

Here's our last free yeast that has only had a batch of pizzas made from it, which will be cut up tonight/tomorrow and frozen in aluminium foil packs:



There's a good thread here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?p=636751

On a more winemaking theme, I've read in one of my books (on home grape/wine production) that a mix of bread yeast & wine yeast gets the fermentation off to a quicker start - anyone tried it?

[lockwood1956]

Every year I start out intending to start off grape wine batches on their natural yeasts, and then introducing a cultured yeast, its meant to add complexity, but I keep bottling out at the last minute....


Rich fermented some Sangiovese on the wild yeasts, I wonder if he ever got round to drinking it?

Rich?

regards
Bob

[hedgerow]

the money saving expet is where i found out about it as well but about 4 years ago, some bakeries do hand it out others dont it depends on the nature ot the asker and the baker they are stood infront, your very lucky david as the asda we use would never ever hand out a piece larger than a hens egg ever, problem was so many were asking for it it started to cost them money, ha ha ha ha

the dried yeast you are on about is the stuff we are using now but the premade is easier for us to use when we do it by hand the dragon in law has offered to buy the wife a bread machine and to send it to us, if we get that we might start using the machine dryed yeast stuff she says it cost around 50 to 60 pence but each packet maker has differant weights inside so if you buy a 5 gm sachet but you need 7gm you have to start to split packets up, I like the idea of a starter bottle because if we have to add say 350mml of water in the machine why could this not be 350ml of yeast starter and water ?????

[David]

the premade is easier for us to use when we do it by hand the dragon in law has offered to buy the wife a bread machine and to send it to us, if we get that we might start using the machine dryed yeast stuff

The fresh stuff free from SM bakeries is always great for bread & pizza dough cooked in the oven, but does not work well in our breadmaker (M.R. Fastbake £23 new from Currys whilst on special a few years ago - bargain), but 5g of dried yeast produces a perfect loaf (on cheap Economy 7 electricity) ready for breakfast.

[lockwood1956]

but 5g of dried yeast produces a perfect loaf (on cheap Economy 7 electricity) ready for breakfast.

sounds wonderful

[wisp]

Keep some of your last dough as a starter and you will never need to buy yeast again!!.

This is what Mrs.wisp said. She started to make her own bread during the bread strike back in year dot. She makes great bread and I can also attest to OBs recipes ... he's provided some great menu treats for me, I'm diabetic, and my grandson who is coeliac. I'd trust this guy on this.

[brewerbailey]

You have to register but you get x2 7g sachets as a freebie if its still going.

http://www.bakingmad.com/offers

[lockwood1956]

lol