Yeast Conversion
Linda Question:
What is the conversion factor for substituting dry yeast for compressed yeast. Yeast cakes are getting harder to find in the supermarket. Thanks!
Rose Reply:
for those of you who have "the bread bible" the yeast conversion is on page 562
to convert cake yeast to instant yeast, for 1 packed tablespoon cake yeast use 2 teaspoons instant yeast or 2-1/2 teaspoons active dry
instant yeast can be added directly to the flour without proofing. it is available nationally under the following names:
fleischmann's bread machine yeast or rapid rise
red star's quickrise
red star's instant active dry
SAF instant
SAF gourmet perfect rise
i store the unused yeast in an airtight container in the freezer where it stays fresh for as long as 2 years. (if it's a large quantity i store about 2 tablespoons of it separately so that the larger amount doesn't get subjected to oxygen and deteriorate more quickly.








Comments
How many ounces is a cake of yeast?
Reply to this Posted by: MARY C MCDONALD | November 26, 2008 10:37 AM #
Wow... that's a lot of yeast. First find several people to share it with, then refrigerate or freeze what's left. Hope that helps!
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | October 3, 2008 11:42 AM #
Paula, I am afraid going thru 2 lbs of yeast at home is impossible! I would donate it to charity or a bakery!
Reply to this Posted by: hector | October 3, 2008 3:06 AM #
A friend knows I like to cook (which is quite different from baking)and left two 1 lb blocks of compressed yeast at my house the other day. I have no idea what to do with it or how to store it? I hate to see it go to waste so any easy/beginner baking recipes would be helpful.
Reply to this Posted by: Paula | October 2, 2008 6:42 PM #
A friend knows I like to cook (which is quite different from baking)and left two 1 lb blocks of compressed yeast at my house the other day. I have no idea what to do with it or how to store it? I hate to see it go to waste so any easy/beginner baking recipes would be helpful.
Reply to this Posted by: Paula | October 2, 2008 6:41 PM #
Hi one package is 0.25 oz or equals,
2 1/2 teaspoons of dry yeast. when is fresh yeast the amount is double.
I hope this help you good luck.
Reply to this Posted by: Rocio Galarza | August 11, 2008 1:56 PM #
trying to find equilivent measurement to 1 large cake of yeast to todays packets of yeast or how much yeast makes a large cake of yeast in tablespoon or teaspoon measurements
Reply to this Posted by: Mama Rose | July 26, 2008 11:05 AM #
Pam,
Someplace above, Rose says "to convert cake yeast to instant yeast, for 1 packed tablespoon cake yeast use 2 teaspoons instant yeast or 2-1/2 teaspoons active dry."
"2 teaspoons instant yeast or 2-1/2 teaspoons active dry" means that the two are equivalent. Since 2 teaspoons is 20% less than 2-1/2 teaspoons, I am assuming that the conversion is to reduce any active dry yeast amount by 20%. I think a package of active dry yeast is... 2-1/4 tsp? So the equivalent amount of instant would be 2.25 tsp - 20% = 1.8 tsp, so say 1.75 or 1-3/4 tsp (1 tsp + 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp (or maybe a "generous" 1/4 tsp to increase from 1.75 to 1.8).
Reply to this Posted by: Gene | November 24, 2007 12:04 PM #
Did you find out the equivalent? I, too, would like to know the answer to that one. If you find out, would you please let me know. Thank You from Oklahoma
Reply to this Posted by: Pam | November 24, 2007 10:41 AM #
What is the instant-dry-yeast equivalent of a standard package of active dry yeast?
Reply to this Posted by: Gene Schwimmer | October 28, 2007 11:00 PM #
Dear Kim,
Try 7g dry yeast ( Fleischman or equivalent)
Dry yeast is approx.twice as potent than compressed fresh cake yeast by
weight.
Andrew
Reply to this Posted by: Andrew Rericha | October 7, 2007 10:28 AM #
Rose,
I have an old recipe that I want to try for cinnnamon rolls and it calls for 1c of Sponge. OK, but it also calls for 1/2 yeast cake, can you convert this? I have no idea how big a yeast cake is, but the rest of the recipe for the sponge.
1/2 c scalded milk
1/4 c cold water
1/2 t salt
1/2 yeast cake
2 t sugar
1 c bread flour
Thank you in advance
Reply to this Posted by: Kim | October 6, 2007 3:17 PM #
yes--by all means do as i have the poppyseed mill (of course!)
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | September 26, 2007 1:40 PM #
Further to Erich Dorfner.
Please let me apologize to the forum at large, that I gave this recipe for Germknödel in German.I figured since you mentioned trouble with translating cookbooks ,it would be easier for you to follow.
This is a Chech recipe.As you probably know It comes from a number of dishes the neighbors to the North of Vienna are responsibel for. It is in the same family of dishes with the famous powidl tascherl.
Powidl, in German Pflaumenmus, you should get in any respectable Delikatessen store.
Mohn, we call it poppiseed here, must be sent thru a mill before its use in this dish.This, to develope its full taste
You will have to get a Mohnmühle for this task.You should be able to get a manual model at a reasonable price.
I only prepare as much as I use at one time for the recipe.The oils of the crushed seeds break down, after a few days at room temperature, becoming rancid.
If you succeed, please let the forum know.
Enjoy,
Andrew
Reply to this Posted by: Anonymous | September 26, 2007 1:03 PM #
To Erich Dorfner.
sent Rose a recipe
Andrew
Reply to this Posted by: Andrew Rericha | September 25, 2007 3:28 PM #
this generous info is from andrew sent by mistake to g-mail instead of posted. thank you andres.
Germknödel, böhmische:
Aus 1/2kg Mehl, 5dkg Butter, 5Dkg Zucker, 2 ganzen Eiern, 1 1/2dkg
aufgelöster Germ, etwas Salz und 1/4Liter Milch bereitet man einen nicht zu
lockeren Germteig den man aufgehen läszt. Daraus formt man Knödel von der
Grösze eines mittleren Apfels, füllt sie innen mit Powidl drückt sie gut
zusammen, damit die Fülle ncht herausquillt und legt sie auf ein Brett zum
Aufgehen. Sind sie auf einer Seite aufgegangen.dreht man sie um und läszt
sie auch auf der zweiten Seite gehen, bis sie sich wie Samt anfühlen. Man
kocht sie in Salzwasser in einem ziemlich groszen Gefäsz. Dasz sie gekocht
sind, sieht man am besten.wenn man mit einer Stricknadel hineinsticht und
diese nicht mehr teigig ist. Nun hebt man die Knödel mit einem Schaumlöffel
schnell heraus und schneided sie seitlich etwas ein, damit die Luft
entweichen kann und die Knödel nicht zusammenfallen. Man legt sie zum
abtropfen auf ein Sieb. Vor dem Anrichten bestreut man sie mit Mohn und
Zucker und übergieszt sie mit Heiszem Fett mit Butter gemischt. Sie müssen
gleich serviert werden.
Rose, Above recipe is from Küchenmeister Rum der Kronenzeitung. in Vienna
Approx. 1930-1938 a bible in Austria at that time. If Erich gets more from
than the 20 stueck he is talking about, he can send me the rest.
Best Regards,
Andrew
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | September 25, 2007 3:21 PM #
I am a ex Viennese, love Germknoedeln, having problems in translating the cookbook, does anybody have a recipe for Germknoedeln, so 20 stueck would be perefct for a beginning.
Thanks
Reply to this Posted by: Erich Dorfner | September 25, 2007 2:19 PM #
Thank you Rose, you are most generous in your answer.
Now to give an answer to Valcsi posted on Dec 23/06
20g fresh yeast( compressed type ) is about 10g dry yeast(Fleischmann e.t.c.) since I believe the ratio of its activity dry versus fresh yeast is about 1:2 in other words we need only half the weight in dry yeast to be equivalent to fresh compressed cake yeast.
Rose, please check me out on this.This is my formula, but I don't want to misleed.
Andrew
Reply to this Posted by: Andrew Rericha | December 30, 2006 8:26 PM #
andrew--this is very lovely! i'm 1/4 austro-hungarian so i love knowing all this. i'll print this out for myself for future understanding. in my new book i'm adding more metric as in centrigrade and fluid ounces. it's mind boggling all the numbers and proofing. i hope you can now make the bread! and without gram!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 30, 2006 6:59 PM #
Rose, Pardon my spelling.
gramm = german spelling of gram.
Writing gram in german means sorrow.The feeling you have when your bread collapses.
Andrew
Reply to this Posted by: Andrew Rericha | December 30, 2006 3:12 PM #
Rose, 1dkg = 10g typical Austrian Measure re- posting by Valcsi Dec.23/06
Please note it is not 1/10 of a kilogram which was your answer, but it is 1/100 of a kilogramm.1-gramm = 1/1000 of a kilogramm.
Fortunateli you mentioned that amount of yeast would be too much using your conversion factor. 10 times too much.
These darn Austrians and their dekagamm recipees. I am one of them. My mother used to ask me to go to the butcher in the village for 10dkg of salami.I am an expert on that measure.
Love,
Andrew
Reply to this Posted by: Andrew Rericha | December 30, 2006 2:41 PM #
i suspect that a dkg is a deci kilogram which is 1/10th of a kilogram. if this is so then it would be 200 grams which is a huge amount. maybe the recipe is a commercial one intended for volume baking. check this out and then use the conversion info. posted above.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 24, 2006 9:20 AM #
Hi,
I'm using a european recipe that calls for 2 dkg cake yeast, but I want to use Fleischmann's rapid rise. How much rapid rise equals 2 dkg cake yeast?
Please HELP!!!
:)
Thanks
Reply to this Posted by: Valcsi | December 23, 2006 5:32 PM #
cake yeast can look fresh but not be fresh. if in doubt try proofing it with a pinch of sugar and warm water. if i'ts been working for you all this time and nothing has changed it has to be the yeast.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 13, 2006 12:01 PM #
I have been baking bread by hand for the last 2-3 years with no problem until now.
My yeast which is fresh, will not rise. I thought it might be the water, and bought some purified water, but the same thing happens - suddenly this has happened. What can it be?
Reply to this Posted by: Pamela | December 13, 2006 10:13 AM #
p.s. but since the posting above yours was referring to a 3 ounce cake of yeast i bet that's it!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 6, 2006 3:27 PM #
i'm sorry, i have no idea what the weight of a large cake of yeast would be.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 6, 2006 3:26 PM #
I have an old family recipe for nut rolls which call for "1/2 large cake yeast". What weight is considered a large cake of yeast? I am unable to find cake yeast at any of my local stores.
Reply to this Posted by: Lynne | December 6, 2006 3:09 PM #
there are two kinds of dry yeast
1) instant active dry yeast
2) active dry yeast
a 3 ounce cake of yeast is equal to:
8 teaspoons instant active dry
10 teaspoons active dry
1 teaspoons of either dry yeast weighs 3.2 grams
1 ounce=28.35 grams
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 4, 2006 10:09 PM #
How many teaspoons of dry yeast are the equivalent of a 3 ounze yeast cake?
Reply to this Posted by: Tom | December 4, 2006 9:24 PM #
yes reeni, that's the address for sending photos.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 3, 2006 9:20 AM #
no better time for a bubbling pot full of oil than Chanukkah! I believe they are called Sufganiyot?
Have yet to send you the picture, (hubby fiddled with the computer and the way i used to download from my camera doesn't work anymore) though we made some more today. Is the correct address rose@realbakingwith rose.com?
Reply to this Posted by: Reeni Espino | December 2, 2006 8:44 PM #
what a treasure reeni (you as well!)
what i meant about freshly made is that home cooks don't generally have a pot of oil at the ready so when they do this it's often not worth it for say 6 of them and once fried THAT'S when they need to be eaten soon after. but it's a great advantage that the dough actually benefits from being made ahead.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 26, 2006 11:10 AM #
I'm glad to do this! I will email the recipe and picture to you separately as well. As far as being freshly made, the technique we used was retarding the dough after shaping -- as we rounded them we put them side by side on a large sheet pan and froze them before they warmed up and started to proof. Then twice a day we would pull maybe 8-10 orders' worth and let them defrost and proof. It really works! You can round them all out then only carry through 6-10 at a time, freezing the rest.
Bomboloni (Round Filled Doughnuts)
Makes 30
1 oz. compressed yeast
2 oz. warm water
15 oz all-purpose flour (or 8 oz high-gluten and 7 oz cake flour)
2 tsp. salt
1 2/3 oz sugar
5 eggs
6 ½ oz. butter, cut in 8 pieces
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl and make a well. Add eggs and yeast mixture to well and mix with dough hook on low speed until combined, scrape down bowl, then increase speed to medium and mix 8-10 minutes. Add butter and mix until the dough is smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl cleanly, adding additional flour (up to 1oz) if necessary.
Cover and let ferment in bowl at room temperature 20 minutes. Refrigerate 1 hour, then pat out onto plastic-lined half sheet pan into a rectangle ¾ inch thick, dusting with flour as necessary, and chill or freeze until firm, or up to 2 hours.
Lay a cloth on a sheet pan and dust generously with flour. Divide the dough rectangle with a bench scraper into 30 pieces (5 one way, 6 the other) and round as for rolls. As they are rounded, place the doughnuts on the cloth 2 inches apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof until very light and doubled, 35-40 minutes.
Fry at 350 until golden brown, turning with spoon 2-3 times to avoid a white ring around the middle. Drain on paper towels.
Fit a pastry bag with a ¼ inch tip and pastry cream or jam. Pierce each doughnut in its center and fill while still warm. Roll in granulated sugar.
My favorite is raspberry jam, but today I tried apple jelly and rolled them in cinnamon sugar and that was delicious too.
I'm trying work on a chocolate version (possibly based on the chocolate brioche in Charlie Trotter's Dessert book), but it's a work in progress.
Reply to this Posted by: Reeni Espino | November 26, 2006 10:39 AM #
reeni i would LOVE to post that recipe. i wrote about it in an article for hemisphere's magazine. they are the BEST. the reason i don't like to make doughnuts is bc they are really best freshly made but there are many who would have more mouths to feed who would really benefit from this recipe. and sooner or later i'll get to make them for a dinner party!
in order to get a photo posted to the blog you need to send it to me and i'll ask my blog master to post it along with the recipe! thanks!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 25, 2006 7:13 PM #
Rose, I just saw your reply about never having made yeasted doughnuts! I too had a fear of them until having to fry a few dozen twice a day at the Maccionis' 2 restaurants, where they are called bomboloni. I have the recipe (tweaked of course to make only 30 instead of the 200+ batch size!) and make it sometimes in my classes... today was one of them!
It is unusual in comparison to others because they are so light in texture, like a brioche but without so much butter. At the restaurant they filled them with pastry cream, but I like a jam filling. I have yet to find a way to post a picture here, but I am posting to campaign in favor of fresh homemade doughnuts. There is nothing to compare. I'll email you the recipe and picture I took today if you want it.
Reply to this Posted by: Reeni Espino | November 25, 2006 2:44 PM #
ask king arthur to give you the name and phone number of the place in vermont that makes these boxes and then they will be able to tell you who now distributes them.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | October 28, 2006 10:41 AM #
they often discontinue products so the best way to be sure of this is to call their 800 number. somehow i think this is a product they would continue to carry. i think they are only open on weekdays but it's worth a try even today.
by the way, the ones they carried have little handles that are totally useless but i like the thickness of the acrylic.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | October 28, 2006 10:00 AM #
bed bath and beyond has loads of acrylic boxes in all sizes. they are not very expensive but king arthur carries some beautiful heavy weight acrylic boxes designed to fit over a sheet pan. i use them all depending on the size of the bread.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | October 28, 2006 8:22 AM #
Your Bread Bible book recommends using an acrylic proof box. I thought that this was a great idea, rather than just covering the dough, but have been unable to find one anywhere. Is there somewhere that these can be purchased?
Reply to this Posted by: carol | October 27, 2006 8:18 PM #
i'm sorry but i can't give advice on a recipe that is not mine. i work painstackingly to ensure that my recipes are reproducable by others. the moment one starts substituting things like rice flour that has no gluten it becomes a total unknown.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | October 10, 2006 2:20 PM #
I have been trying to make French bread but using a mixture of rice flour and all purpose flour (it's from a recipe on the internet) Anyways, I put in a cup of water as indicated and the dough would be too sticky even after the second rise. When I reduce the amount to 3/4 cup the dough is more manageable and still double and even triple in size. Then I would shape it and let it rise the second time. When I transfer the dough and flip it over to slit it it then deflate though. In the oven it would barely rise. So is it better to not flip or transfer dough but instead place it directly into oven? Should I slit the formed dough before or after the second rise? And what advice can you give about the amount of water? Thanks.
Reply to this Posted by: anh | October 10, 2006 2:08 PM #