# In need of accurate equivalent



## bearybow1972 (Dec 21, 2006)

Hello! I came across the site looking for the equivalent of a cake of yeast. My recipe calls for one cake of yeast. I have fast acting dry yeast. I am not an expert but I really want to do this recipe. Can someone please help me? Thank You!!


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

The cakes made for home use are usually 2 oz. or little 1/2 oz. cakes. I'm pretty sure if you use 2-2 1/4 oz. odf dry yeast to each cake you'll be ok?
Hopefully someone who uses the home stuff will pop on and correct me if I'm not remembering right.
pan
I'm in the US so cake to me means fresh yeast.


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## foodnfoto (Jan 1, 2001)

One package of dry yeast or instant yeast is equal to one cake. Most of the weight in cake yeast is water, so using equivalent weights would cause you to use too much dry yeast.
One package of dry yeast measures 2 1/4 teaspoons.


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## z~bestus (Dec 13, 2005)

BEARYBOW1972:
Good afternoon to you. First, I am not certain what it is you are baking. If you are baking a yeasted lean bread... then a cake of yeast is .625 of an oz or it is referred to as .6 of an oz. Simply put instant yeast would be 1/3rd that amount or 2 teasp. If you are going to use that junk that comes in a envelope & requires hot water to activate it then that packet is exact 1/4 oz...:chef:use the whole thing. I hope this info will help you my friend. Good luck & have a nice day.

~Z~BESTUS.


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## jock (Dec 4, 2001)

By weight:

If cake or fresh yeast = 100% then -
Active dry = 40% and
Rapid Rise, Fast Acting (or whatever you call it) = 30%

So, whatever is the weight of cake yeast called for, use 30% of fast acting dry.

Jock


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## auzzi (Dec 13, 2004)

One package active dry yeast contains 2 1/4 teaspoons and weighs 1/4 ounce
If using bulk dry yeast, measure 2 1/2 ts for 1 pkg yeast.

Commercially: One 2oz compressed cake of fresh yeast is made up of three 2/3 oz cakes. Each 2/3 oz cake of compressed fresh yeast can substitute for 1 package dry yeast 

2/3 oz compressed fresh yeast = 2¼ ts active dry yeast = 2 ts instant yeast

Notes:
* Active dry yeast has a larger particle size than Instant Active Dry Yeast
* Instant/instant rise/rapid rise/quick rise/bread machine yeast has approx 20-25% greater leavening power than active dry yeast.

3 oz compressed fresh yeast = 8 teaspoons instant active dry = 10 teaspoons active dry


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## spyeyes1001 (Nov 21, 2012)

Hello, growing up mom made fresh white bread, what a treat I remember we could smell it before we walked into the house. The taste was to me and as I remember everyone else that would stop by for a roll or slice would say mouth watering good. It had a rich yeast smell and taste. I found her recipe and it too called for two cakes of yeast, warm water and sugar and scald milk, so two questions please. 1. What is scald milk? 2. If I went to Wal Mart what yeast would I buy? I do remember packs of yeast and also maybe a can of yeast white growing up, she passed away in 1988 at the age of 60, so I only have the fond memories of this bread, I would love to pass these memories on to my children too. Thank you all in advance, from a father of two. Happy Holidays


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## chicagoterry (Apr 3, 2012)

You will most likely find only dry yeast in the store. Red Star is a common brand. Do not buy quick rise or fast rise yeast if you want it to taste like mom's. The equivalents for substituting dry for cake yeast are in the post directly above yours.

Scalding milk is something you do, not a product. Heat the milk until tiny bubbles start to appear around the edges but do not let it boil. If you have a thermometer, you want to get it to 180 degrees F.

Do not add your yeast to the milk until the milk cools to around 110 degrees F, otherwise you will kill your yeast.


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## colin (Sep 12, 2011)

Yeast makes more of itself as the dough rises (unlike, say, baking powder).  That means yeast quantities in a recipe are not critical: you can always start with less yeast than the recipe calls for, and just wait a little longer for the first rise to happen.

Professional bakers with schedules to meet pay attention to precise ratios, but if you're baking at home and can afford to let the dough take its time, you really just need a tiny bit to get a dough going.  For normal home quantities of one or two loaves, one packet (just over 2 teaspoons) is plenty.  One teaspoon is still plenty.


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## duckie (Oct 12, 2013)

Scalded milk is a very old way of bringing milk to a starting to boil and then letting it cool so as not to kill the yeast.

I have several very old recipes that call for this and it does change the flavor of your baked goods a bit BUT for the better


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