Found a trick for fixing dry yeast that's past its date

Last week I was halfway through mixing dough for a big order of cinnamon rolls at my shop and realized my yeast packet expired 3 months ago. I almost threw it out but figured I'd test it in warm water with a pinch of sugar first. It barely foamed after 10 minutes so I added a second packet of fresh yeast and let it sit another 5 minutes - that did the trick and the rolls came out perfect. Any bakers here ever salvage old yeast or do you just pitch it?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade2217d ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard. The other day I tried to resurrect a pack of yeast that was buried behind some baking soda in my pantry, probably from 2021. I did the warm water test and it looked like a sad little puddle of nothing, so I panic-added a whole extra packet and some honey like that would magically wake it up. The bread came out dense enough to use as a doorstop. You got way better results than me, I'm just a chaotic baker who should probably label things.

hugo507d ago

Ha, yeah yeast has a mind of its own. I tried the same thing last month with some packets from 2020 and ended up with a brick that could double as a paperweight. At least @jade221 and I can bond over our sad little experiments.