The market · Grains and flours
Fresh yeast
Moist, crumbly blocks of live yeast that many bakers prefer for enriched doughs — brioche, kougelhopf, empanada gallega — for their flavour and lively rise.
yeasty · sweet · beery
What to do with it
GalicianEmpanada gallegaA large, flat pie of bread-like dough filled with onions and peppers stewed in olive oil and tuna, pork or shellfish, baked and cut into squares.No one here has made it yetLyonnaisBugnesStrips of enriched dough fried until puffed and crisp, dusted heavily with icing sugar, made for Carnival.No one here has made it yetAlsatianKougelhopfA tall, fluted ring of buttery yeasted dough with raisins soaked in kirsch, an almond set in each fold, dusted with icing sugar.No one here has made it yetAlsatianBretzelA knotted bread dipped in a lye bath before baking, so it comes out deep brown and shiny, scattered with coarse salt.No one here has made it yetItalianPizza napoletanaA soft round of long-risen dough, topped simply — tomato, mozzarella, basil, oil — and baked for about a minute in a wood-fired oven until blistered at the rim.No one here has made it yet
PolishPączkiRich, yeasted doughnuts filled with rose-petal jam or plum, glazed or sugared — the food of Fat Thursday.No one here has made it yetPolishObwarzanek krakowskiA ring of twisted dough, boiled briefly and then baked, crusted with poppy seed, sesame or salt and sold from street carts.No one here has made it yetPolishRogal świętomarcińskiA large crescent of flaky yeast pastry filled with white poppy seed, almonds, nuts and dried fruit, glazed and scattered with nuts.No one here has made it yet
Nordic and Baltic ryeKanelbullarSoft, cardamom-scented yeasted buns rolled around butter, sugar and cinnamon, and topped with pearl sugar.No one here has made it yet
PolishPączkiRich, yeasted doughnuts filled with rose-petal jam or plum, glazed or sugared — the food of Fat Thursday.No one here has made it yetPolishObwarzanek krakowskiA ring of twisted dough, boiled briefly and then baked, crusted with poppy seed, sesame or salt and sold from street carts.No one here has made it yetPolishRogal świętomarcińskiA large crescent of flaky yeast pastry filled with white poppy seed, almonds, nuts and dried fruit, glazed and scattered with nuts.No one here has made it yetNordic and Baltic ryeKanelbullarSoft, cardamom-scented yeasted buns rolled around butter, sugar and cinnamon, and topped with pearl sugar.No one here has made it yetIf you can't find it
Ask at a bakery counter — they'll often sell some.
- 1Instant yeastA third of the weightYou lose nothing that matters.
- 2Dried yeastHalf the weight, woken in warm water firstYou lose nothing that matters.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Ask at a bakery or supermarket bakery counter; it keeps two weeks in the fridge, wrapped.
- Worth knowing
- Use about three times the weight of dried yeast. Crumble it into the liquid rather than straight onto salt.