it! could! work!
(a picture of a somewhat crumbly dough in a glass container)
I've successfully reproduced baker's #yeast following the instructions (in Italian) on https://vivalafocaccia.com/ricette/ricetta-lievito-di-birra-fatto-in-casa/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20200419075536/https://vivalafocaccia.com/ricette/ricetta-lievito-di-birra-fatto-in-casa/) and the linked videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeldxQHZ1VY (https://invidio.us/watch?v=VeldxQHZ1VY) plus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7abLyLKIk1A (https://invidio.us/watch?v=7abLyLKIk1A).
The basics are: mix 25 g fresh yeast (or 8g dry, which is what I used) and 25 g water, add 60 g flour, knead a bit and put in the fridge (low temperature is important) in an airtight container (low oxygen is the other important factor) for at least 24 hours. Use in the following week, and start again from the last 25 g.
It smells definitely like baker's yeast (as opposed to sourdough) and the bread I've made with it has risen as expected.
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Kermode
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • •I'm also used to dry yeast, so I don't really have an idea of how much that would be in volume. In the picture the container is a bit less than 10 cm wide, if that can help.
Also, I tend to make a lot of bread with pre-ferments, so I may be using as low as 2-4 g of fresh yeast (around 1g dry) for 400-500 g flour. The highest I routinely go is one 7g dry packet (i.e. 25g fresh) per 1000g flour.
Kermode
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • •This bread making game is a real adventure. At least my recent efforts are good and edible. Last year's experiments were a disaster - even the crows couldn't eat the sourdough rye Rocks I produced.
Elena ``of Valhalla''
Unknown parent • •I don't think I'm going to keep this alive long-term for a few reasons.
Between the low amounts of yeast per dough and the fact that I also have an active sourdough, this is making more yeast than I use (and it only keeps for a short time between feedings — although it can keep in the freezer for slightly longer and I could try to experiment with drying like I do with sourdough).
While sourdough grows with time and gains flavour, with baker's yeast the idea is to have something that is consistent, so one would want to remain pretty close to the original, and I suspect that after a few generations mutations may start to change the way it behaves. I believe that this reason alone makes it worth restarting the batch from commercial yeast periodically (maybe every few months?)
And then there is the bit where dry yeast is soooo convenient, while this is a bit of a hassle to get the same results, and I'm basically lazy…
OTOH, it's an excellent way to get more yeast from a package now that it has disappeared from the supermarkets (and this means that I'm currently in the 1% or less of italians that have more yeast than they can use, and I can't even share it with other people in a reasonable way :( (at least not outside the building where I live))