There aren't a lot of tins in our house. Call me a snob, but I think fresh is always better. Even when I was still living in Canada, I always shunned cheese from a jar (shudder). Don't get me wrong - I'm not a total hippy. There's the odd tin of beans for when I've forgotten to soak some, and I *heart* tinned tuna and salmon.
So here's where I have this dilemma: yeast. I'm not talking about the breadmaker yeast that comes in little packets - what do you take me for?!? I'm talking about a jar of dried yeast, versus a little block of fresh. Dried yeast is available pretty much everywhere, lasts for months and months, and takes up very little room in your cupboard. Fresh yeast is hard to find, only lasts for up to two weeks, and makes your eyes really itchy if you accidentally touch them after handling it.
So of course fresh is better, right?
Richard Bertinet, author of Dough, swears by fresh yeast and reckons you should only "resort" to dried yeast in an emergency. Daniel Stevens, author of the straight-to-the-point titled Bread, says he can't tell the difference, and almost always uses dried. My personal favourite celebrity baker, the lovely Dan Lepard (The Handmade Loaf) says he prefers fresh yeast, but then he's really more of a natural leaven/sourdough kind of guy.
Personally, I think I prefer fresh. There's a certain smugness I feel using an obscure natural ingredient that replaces a really common ingredient that comes in a tin. I just love the way the fresh yeast cube snaps in half, and it dissolves so nicely into water to make a mushy paste, all ready to go. And I love walking to the Scandinavian bakery by my office at lunchtime to pick it up. (It's 40p! What other kind of shopping can you do on your lunch hour near Oxford Street for 40p?)
But I haven't noticed a difference in my bread. What difference am I looking for, anyway? None of the high-profile artisan bakers seem to actually say why they prefer it. Does the bread rise more? Become more fluffy? More moist? I don't know!
I made English muffins this morning. (Yes! I made English muffins! They're so easy!) I made half a batch with dried yeast, the other half with fresh.
OH, dear readers - how I wish I could tell you what the difference was. But the fact is, to my novice bread making eye (and nose, and mouth), they were exactly the same. Same texture, same crumb, same holes. Both equally delicious.
However, me being me - I'm going to carry on buying the fresh yeast. It makes me feel like a better baker. A baker that's in a secret club that knows that fresh is best. Even though I haven't figured out why yet.
