November 10, 2008 - 1:45am
SAF Gold Instant Yeast
I currently use SAF instant yeast. However, in King Arthur's recent catalog they list a yeast that I haven't seen before; SAF Gold instant yeast (page 11: "yeast", olive colored rectangle). The ad write-up states: "saf gold instant yeast Specially formulated to provide the very best rise in doughs high in sugar (sweet breads) or acid (sourdough) 15.86 oz. - [item no.] 1457 $6.95"
Has anyone had experience using this yeast in a sourdough? If so, please post a short note re: results.
Thanks in advance,
Howard
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Hi Howard,
I am reading Maggie Glezer's book "A Blessing of Bread" and she discusses using this SAF Gold yeast in sweet doughs. So far, her other advice I have followed has been excellent, but I haven't yet tried the SAF Gold, myself.
CR
Really appreciate your response. If Maggie Glezer says it's good then it must be good. I'll order a bag and give it a try.
Best to you in your baking endeavors,
Howard
Howard,
Last winter, I compared SAF Gold with their normal Red when I got on a Stollen kick. Baking simultaneously, the Gold rose far better than the Red. I never tried allowing the Red to ferment for longer times, however, so I'm not sure whether one could just as well use the Red for sweeter doughs. A local baker put me on to it after I noticed that his Stollen was considerably superior to mine using regular Active Dry Yeast.
Hope that this (latently) helps.
Neil
Howard,
I purchased some from King Arthur about 1 month ago specifically for using in sweet enriched doughs, and have used it with excellent results. My friend who was the head baker at one of the best artisan bakeries in my area first turned me on to this product, and he says they use it at their bakery for all of their rich doughs as well. Hope that helps
Kevin
It helps a lot, knowing that your friend, who is a head baker, is using it in a commercial environment with good results. King Arthur says it's specifically formulated for sweet, enriched doughs and for use with in sourdough. Sounds like a winner. I'll order a bag of SAF Gold from King Arthur with my next order.
Since I've been baking some of Michel Suas' recipes, where he adds a small amount of yeast to nearly every recipe in his AB&P book, I've had such good results with his formulas that I have changed my mind about using yeast. As I recall, Jane (janedo) mentioned in one of her posts that yeast is allowed in France in small amounts. I recall that the French bakers are fairly limited in what they're allowed to put into bread; i.e. flour, water, levain, salt, a small amount of yeast and, if memory serves me correctly, boulangers are allowed to use a small amount of ascorbic acid in at least some of their dough.
Anyway, thanks again, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Howard
Im an old dog that can't change his ways
i still say fresh yeast is best for anything and instant is not even a close second
to all here that use instant dry yeast Don't kill me.
Richard Bertinet and many other bakers, especially in France, wholeheartedly agree with you. My main problem is, even if I wanted to use fresh yeast I can't easily get it here in Florida.
Hope all is well with you.
Howard
i get fresh yeast for about 1 dollar a pound the porblem is getting some to you. with the cold weather getting cold i could send you a pound and you yould get it still in great condition since ups or fed ex couls get it to fl in 3 days
but the shipping would be about 5 or 6 dollars i think
of course if there is a bakery supply house neer you i an sure they woukld be glad to sell you a plock . it comes in two pound blocks and would stay fresh in the fridg for about 2 months
Norm,
I really appreciate your kind offer, but for now I had better wait until I use up the large bag of KAF instant yeast I have in the freezer. It was very thoughtful of you to make the offer and is much appreciated.
Hope all is going well on your end and I'm so glad you're back posting again on TLF, you were missed during your absence.
Regards,
Howard
OK, I've got a question! I read the Maggie Glezer recipe for Pandoro and it says to use this yeast. Now, the maker is in France, but I can't find the darn stuff! She says fresh yeast can be used.... but how much? Anyone have a good conversion. the recipe is so long, I don't want to screw it up because of yeast problem.
And also, Howard, I have been playing with a sourdough recipe that has yeast in it (based on the pane di Genzano recipe and then altered) and the results are quite amazing. Most French bakers add a tiny bit of yeast to the sourdough in order to garantee and control the fermentation. I'm a bit of a purist with sourdough but like experimenting, too. I have been getting a nice sourdough taste, with a lighter crumb. It's interesting.
Jane
Your post made me curious and I checked to see if I could figure out what pane di Genzano was/is, and/or how it's made. I came up with this post by Bill Wraith, who hasn't been posting on TFL for a while (Bill, if you're out there call home/TFL).
Anyway, does this look like what you're thinking about in terms of pane di Genzano? My dance card is filled for the next month or two, so I have no intention of making pane di Genazano anytime soon, I just wondered if this was it?
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4491/pane-casareccio-e-lariano-di-genzano
Howard
Dougal,
Thanks for the info. No, I can't find the gold in France... strange! I looked on a ton of web sites. I only saw it on the Lesaffre site.
Howard,
I have the Leader book "Local Breads" where the recipe is, but it's when David Snyder did it, that I really noticed it.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8441/pane-di-genzano
I didn't do it right away, but just tried a couple of weeks ago. I'm hoping to put something on my blog about the technique and the different breads that can be done with it, but as always... I don't have time!!!!! :-)
Jane
Thanks for posting the link to David's pane di Genzano. I'll check out his post and put it on my list for the future. Know what you mean about time and the lack of it.
Hang in there,
Howard
P.S. I thought SAF (yeast) was a French company (n'est pas????)
I have been using SAF Gold for over a year in anything that has a levain or a long yeast preferment. I don't do much in the way of sweetbreads other than Challah and I use Gold in that. I find that I get good results in the sour rye mix that uses yeast in the dough. The few times I have made sticky buns, I use about 3/4 of the yeast called for with no loss of performance.
I just received my latest order of both Red and Gold from KA. I keep them both in a plastic container in the freezer and use them at roughly the same rate. I haven't done any real volume testing on one against the other in sour mixes but I'm happy with my results. I suspect that I could stop using the Red product altogether and just use the osmotolerant Gold. I'm not aware of any down side to using Red in general use.
It cost a lot to bring the Gold product to the market and I have enough confidence in SAF to believe they wouldn't waste the time and money if they didn't think it is an improvement. The large supply companies are carrying it for commercial bakers so it's got some fans.
Eric
Great note. I really appreciate you sharing your experience using SAF Gold. I was most interested in how it works with sourdough because I seen a few warnings in posts by some home bakers against introducing yeast into sourdoughs for reasons I can't specifically recall. But I seem to remember they cited some chemical conflict between the yeast and the acid in the sourdough. Let me add, I know little to nothing about chemistry. So, thank you, you have answed my question re: sourdough and SAF Gold. I will definitely order a bag from K.A. in my next order.
Howard
Howard,
I haven't read anything anywhere that would make me think Red is better than Gold in any situation. I'll make up a test batch of sour rye and some enriched dough and do a side by side test. I should have done this a long time ago.
Eric
I would be very interested in how it works with sourdough and If you do perform a sour rye test I would really be interested in your results. Please let us know your conclusions.
The only point I was trying to make re: your Test post on the Gold vs. Red was that if KAF's bakers are using it in their test kitchens, with bakers of the caliber of Ciril Hitz and Michael Jubinsky using the product, they must have some sort of empirical data on how it works and what it works best with (and conversely, less best with) e.g. sweet, direct and sourdoughs. I wasn't faulting KAF per se, only wishing, since they're selling the product, they would make a some substantive information available as to some of its best uses and their baking experiences with the product.
I have a recent edition of KAF's Baker's Companion and they don't show anything specific re: SAF, only yeasts by general catagory.
Your other post on Hamelman's VSD, with your reference to the side bar, got me really interested in the subtleties of the sourdough process again. I see what you mean about small variations in flour and hydration and 1 fold. Anyway, after reading the sidebar info. I ended up on pages 45-48, reading, highlighting and undelining lots of interesting info. on rye; pentosans, amylase, etc. making notes and notes and... I had no idea about "starch attacks". At 6 a.m. I realized I had spent an hour reading this stuff. I'm not sure, but I think I have a little better understanding of the rye process and some of the pitfalls. Anyway, I've got a rye starter percolating and am going to try Hamelman's 3 stage 80% Sourdough Rye on page 204. It looks a little like a minefield but I'm going to try to get through it :>)
Hang in there,
Howard