What is the best flour

[cobblerdave]

Re: What is the best flour

Gudday
Did a quite goggle, just in case I got the American terms wrong,I think I was smart in doing that its a but confusing.
But here we go ....active yeast is basically the one you can throw directly into your ingredients. Dry has to be brought back to life with a little warm water and sugar. Now in saying that there are other products "rapid rise" machine yeast" just to confuse things. If your confused with the product and the instructions don't really tell you anything, in to some slightly warm water with a 1/2 teaspoon of water. It will come back to life cause yeast is yeast regardless.
The last one is "Cake yeast" because it comes 1 pound cake of live concentrated yeast and its used by bakers. You'll never use enough... But it would be nice to get hold of a small bit .....if you know a friendly baker.
Hope this helps
Dave

[rsandler]

Re: What is the best flour

I generally use plain old white AP flour on my peels for pizza, and have never had a problem with a burnt flavor. The trick is to not use too much--enough so that the peel is just coated. A wood peel helps with this--the flour will rub into the grain of the wood and spread easily, where it would slide around on a metal peal. I do use semolina sometimes when loading bread (using a longer, metal peel). For bread, you can use parchment instead.

Whatever you do though, don't try placing your pizzas on parchment to load in the oven. This is a great idea when using a pizza stone to bake pizza in a conventional oven, but results in burnt bits of parchment everywhere in a WFO. Learned THAT the hard way

[V-wiz]

Re: What is the best flour

Got it thanks guys. Ill have to get some yeast and start experimenting. I need to pick up the book also.

[V-wiz]

Re: What is the best flour

Hey guys, i got some Yeast and Semolina, can you tell me if these are the right stuff.

Thanks

[texassourdough]

Re: What is the best flour

Active dry yeast is the kind you have to proof (i.e. get started). Bread Machine yeast is Instant or Rapid Rise that does not need proofing and can be mixed straight with the flour before you add the water.

Here is Fleischmann's description of your two yeasts...
Our Products | Breadworld by Fleischmanns

NOTE: The dudes at Fleischmanns will say that "Rapid Rise speeds baking by up to 50% by eliminating the first rise. This is mostly BS. You can make the rise time most anything you want by increasing or decreasing the amount of yeast. What they are saying is that IF you use the same amount of yeast (say 1/2 tsp) you will reduce your rise time by half or so. THIS COSTS FLAVOR! If you want better flavor you need time for the enzymes and bacteria to do their things and break down the starch and such and create flavenoids. Rushing that process reduces their impact on flavor. The answer is to reduce the amount of instant yeast to get the rise times you want. And the first rise (bulk ferment) is CRITICAL to flavor development. Skipping it is not a good idea IMO but everyone has their own goals and desires so....

The two yeasts you have are not interchangeable. The Red Mill semolina is good stuff but expensive. Still, it is what I use,too for peels (and for pasta and as a bread additive from time to time).

Given how cheap yeast is and your lack of experience I would suggest tossing the Active Dry. If you mix it dry you will have problems and if you proof it it will still behave rather differently from the Rapid Rise/Instant/Bread and the inconsistent results are likely to cause you lots of headaches. My mantra for new bread makers is simple. Use the same ingredients every time and don't make too many changes (choose a good basic recipe, a reasonable hydration, use one flour, one yeast, water/room temp, and vary only one or two things at a time) until you have that combination under control and repeatable. Then when you make a change you will better be able to understand what happened.

Good Luck!
Jay

[V-wiz]

Re: What is the best flour

Thank you Jay,