I’m enrolled in a couple of culinary courses. The online course is Food and Beverage Cost Control. Basically, math and accounting that I’ve already had, with focus on food service industry.

The in-person class is called Baking Ingredients and Technology. As the name implies, it’s all about ingredients, how they react with each other and the science behind all the mixing and baking. I had to miss my class today due to an illness, so I experimented in my home lab (aka my kitchen).

This week’s unit is all about leaveners. For my first experiment, I’m using yeasts. I’m making a focaccia recipe for two pizza crusts. In the first one, I’m using instant yeast and in the second, I’m using active dry yeast. The original recipe calls for active dry. I’m going to observe the differences in the two different types of yeast and choose what I think is best for my future crusts.

The instant yeast dough is in pink bowl; active dry dough is in white bowl. There was no noticeable difference after mixing.

They’re similar with distinct differences here. This is about halfway through the stretch and fold process. The active dry dough seems a little lazy. It’s smooth and easy to work with and it has good elasticity and extensibility. It stretches nicely and snaps back into shape.

The instant yeast seems more excited. It stretches nicely, but is slower on the snapping back.

After an hour of rest, there is a more noticeable difference in the two crusts. The instant yeast has risen quite a bit more. I’m not sure if this is what I want for this particular product, but it is cool to see how much better the instant yeast blows up my dough. The active yeast, is flatter and less sticky. I predict they will bake up quite differently, but both will be delicious.

The instant dough (right), is fluffier and tighter. I had to let it rest a couple times too get the dough to the corners of the pan. The active dry (left), is still airy and spread willingly to the corners after one short rest.

Both pizzas baked up beautifully and tasted great. I’m not sure which one I like better. Maybe more experimenting is in order.

I’m pleased with what I’ve learned so far in my class. Before, purchasing yeast at the store was a dilemma; a myster. I had no idea what to choose. Now I have some knowledge and I’m happy with what I know. It’s going to be much easier to purchase exactly what I want for each different baked good.

Next up…I’m experimenting with chemical leaveners: baking soda and baking powder.