Dry Yeast for Light Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the starter
Heat the buttermilk to boiling point.
Scald the cornmeal to make a stiff mixture.
Dissolve the dry yeast in the mixture and mix well.
Dry the cakes
Form the mixture into cakes and place them in a dry area, avoiding direct sunlight.
Allow the cakes to dry quickly.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Dry yeast
- Provides the leavening microbes that will raise bread dough once the cakes are rehydrated.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity to the mixture, which helps give the bread a tender crumb.
- Cornmeal
- Forms a stiff base that holds the yeast and lets the mixture be shaped into cakes.
The step that matters
Allow the cakes to dry quickly. Yeast cells stay alive when dried but are damaged by heat and prolonged moisture. Drying quickly in a dry, shaded spot keeps the cakes from spoiling or overheating while preserving the yeast for later use.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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