Amount of yeast

[noanchovies]

Hello,
Is it possible to use too much yeast when making dough?

When I say too much that would be a 50% to 100% increase. Being a homebrewer, I may have the wrong impression that the more yeast the better.

VK

[brickie in oz]

Re: Amount of yeast

From my understanding its the amount of sugar that is relevant, the yeast will grow no matter how small a quantity of yeast until all the sugar has been consumed.
Small amounts of yeast take longer to consume all of the sugar where as a large amount of yeast will consume the sugar more quickly.

Could be wrong, although it makes sense to me......

[sloe]

Re: Amount of yeast

Yes, too much yeast is possible. Way back when I was still a neophyte in the kitchen (about 10 years ago), I was making bread in our bread machine. I had misread the recipe - it called for yeast by the teaspoon, but I saw by the tablespoon. I forget what the actual number was, but I essentially tripled the amount of yeast.

I did this all before bed so we could wake up to fresh baked bread for breakfast. Around 2AM, my wife woke me up and asked "What's that smell?" I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to find dough spilling out of the bread machine - it had risen so much it had squeezed out of the lid, and overflowed the baking tin and gotten onto the heating element - it was burning on the element. It was banana bread. It stunk. Bad.

The bread maker went to the dump that afternoon, and I never touched yeast again until last year when I started working on pizza. I still haven't figured the little buggers out, either.

[noanchovies]

Re: Amount of yeast

Thanks for the replies.
VK

[Tscarborough]

Re: Amount of yeast

Normally, you add salt to control the yeast, so if you maintain the proportion between them you can add more yeast. Not sure why you would want to though.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Amount of yeast

I just made a batch of pizza dough last night for tonight's wfo pizzas using the standard recipe found everywhere on this site (500gr Caputo, 325g H2O, 10-15gr salt,...but the yeast they call for is 3gr) I never put the 3 grams of yeast (instant dry) which is 1/2 teaspoon unless I want pizza to rise and be ready in a few hours. I use half that amount and retard the dough overnight for use the next day.

I found the less yeast I use, the longer to rise and the more complex the carbs get in the dough. The final product is tastier.

BTW: your name makes me wanna put anchovies on my pizza , but each his own.

[noanchovies]

Re: Amount of yeast

"Not sure why you would want to though"

Why?
I want to speed up the rise time since the request for pizza happens hours before eating. Sometimes I add up to double the yeast AND place it in a warmer location.


"BTW: your name makes me wanna put anchovies on my pizza , but each his own."

Very true, I don't feel the urge to put dinosaur on my pizza.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Amount of yeast

That doesn't make for a very tasty crust. Do what I do. Every ordinary Thursday or Friday night I make a batch of dough (4 balls) and put them in the fridge. They are ready for use in 24 hours and are perfect after 3 or 4 days out to 9 days.

Here is a sample dough:

5 cups KABF (King Arther bread flour)
3 cups water
1/4 oz ADY
2 tsp pickling salt
1 tsp sugar

Here is a 7 day old dough straight from the fridge:

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Amount of yeast

That's a whole lotta ADY! But it obviously works, as I can see in your picture. Looks like a good solution for 'noanchovies'.

Tscar: do you let it do any bulk rising or are you balled and in the fridge right after mixing?

Also, do you mix by hand (I do since I always wet my hands and bring the dough to 65%, there abouts) or is this in a kitchen-aid mixer?

I've stretched out my balls for days () when I use just sour-dour-starter but didn't do well with ADY, I think I'll up it and see if I get your results too.

-Dino

[Tscarborough]

Re: Amount of yeast

I hand mix, let it bulk rise for an hour, then ball it.

[noanchovies]

Re: Amount of yeast

Thanks T,
I know I'm trying to rush it at the cost of a really good crust. I used to make bigger batches and spend the effort weighing my flour/water to get 62-65% hydration when using an organic bread flour/semolina. After awhile I then began just going by eye and feel, no measuring. The 'no measuring' part is related to the reason I started the thread.

You inspired me to go back to my old ways as a restart and hopefully get the mojo back. I need to plan ahead and recalibrate my eye with the scale and give the dough time do it's thing. But one of the issues with where I proof my dough is with my garage fridge which doesn't get much above freezing all winter but from past experience it still has a positive affect on flavor and texture.

Thanks for the recipe, very, very close to mine. A bit more salt, I'll give your proportions a try.
Cheers,
VK