Using active dry yeast in sourdough as a beginner, I’ve found it’s okay. In my opinion, it’s not cheating when you’re first starting out. I had many failures and turned to active yeast.
My experience as a beginner with sourdough bread without active yeast
When I was first starting out in sourdough making, I could NOT get the bread to turn out right no matter how hard I tried. I tried recipe after recipe with no luck. It could’ve been that my starter wasn’t established enough, or that I just didn’t know what I was doing in the least.
Not many recipes called for active dry yeast in their bread recipes and I felt that if I used it I was a fraud, or that I had cheated the system somehow. I wouldn’t use it, I wanted to make bread rise on my own. After many of failed attempts, I almost gave up.
Below is a photo of how my bread continued to look, as a beginner, with just my starter and no active dry yeast…
As you can see, I tried to make the best of it by slapping some of my homemade butter on it.. It didn’t cover up the texture of eating a sponge though. I was at my wits end, tired of making dense sourdough sponges. At this last loaf, I almost gave up. BUT, I said, “I don’t care if I’m a fake bread maker, I’m going to try yeast.”
I was tired of wasting time, energy and money on failed attempts of sad bread. It was easier just to go to the grocery store and pick one loaf out, but it wasn’t going to taste the same as homemade. Nothing is like homemade. Too many ingredients on the back to know what’s even in it or why, not knowing where it actually comes from, it just wasn’t worth it to me.
That’s why I was so determined to make a darn loaf of bread on my own! Even though as a beginner, I didn’t know a whole lot, but I was still ready to make a loaf.. even if it meant with instant yeast.
I went to Amazon and picked out a bag of organic yeast from Bob’s Red Mill and used it.
Beginning to use active dry yeast in my sourdough
After using the yeast, I pulled this loaf out of the oven. It wasn’t perfect by ANY means BUT, it gave me just enough of a push to keep trying with sourdough. Although, still not pretty, it was a risen loaf of bread. To me, that was a win in my book. A win is a win no matter how small or infinite.
I saw that it had at least risen and it didn’t have the texture of sourdough flavored chewing gum! It was actually edible and enjoyable. So, I started using the instant yeast to hold my and and to give me an idea of how this all works.
While establishing my starter and learning tricks to making the perfect loaf, I was so excited while learning. I was all the while being able to see the fruits of my labors. I felt like I wasn’t going to make the “sourdough gods” happy with my fraudulent ways, but I started to realize it wasn’t cheating if I was learning and building my knowledge.
Knowing I could keep going and just practicing a lot over time, gave me the encouragement to march on with it. I felt like I had made a slight accomplishment. My husband came home from work and tried it and thought it was so good, he ate half the loaf. (That gave me some encouragement too..)
While learning and baking, I finally weaned off yeast and just started using my established sourdough starter. It still took A LOT of practice, but it was all worth it. I now have a little, happy, bubbly sourdough starter chillin’ on my counter everyday.
My sourdough loaves now without active yeast and just starter
I don’t use active yeast much anymore since being able to learn how it all works. I use it on rare occasions when I’m running out of time and need sourdough bread quick. This is the sourdough loaf I’m making nowadays. It crackles so nicely, smelling up the whole house with it’s sweet aroma. My husband loves to come home to these loaves, with my homemade butter and strawberry jam.
I will be having a recipe soon on my blog for active dry yeast in sourdough. I think it’s a wonderful thing for people just learning to homestead and make their own bread from scratch. When all else fails, at least you know how to make bread.
Learning how to establish your starter is a whole different animal, I will also be updating a post on that soon as well. If you don’t have a starter, or you don’t have an established one, you can always find people who sell theirs!
I’ve seen many people selling their sourdough, I sell mine to people locally in my community. I honestly think it’s such a great thing that everyone should have in their kitchen.
If you can’t get the hang of making the bread with an established starter or your own starter, instant yeast is my friend. I’ll always be thankful I didn’t listen to my thoughts on it being “cheating.”
Now, making sourdough bread is a part of my day to day life. I keep up my starter, I make bread a couple times a week, I sell the bread to people locally who don’t want to make it own their own as well. It takes a lot of time, love and care. It has quickly become an obsession for me.
I love knowing I can make something from scratch, feeding my family with more natural and healthy ingredients and recipes. I’ll soon be sharing more on this blog about my recipes and things of that nature.
Making sourdough bread is an art
I love making sourdough bread for my family, it’s so healthy for you and so easy to make, once you get the hang of it. Gut healthy, only a few ingredients, and you know where it comes from. From feeding your starter, to pulling it out of the oven and gifting it to a friend… it’s all an art. A learned practice and skill.
There are so many ways you can incorporate sourdough into your life, you just have to know where to start! I started out small, and now I’m slowly incorporating a new sourdough recipe into my book. Once I learn once recipe and get it down pat, then I can learn a new one.
The amount of different options to make things with your starter is endless as well… such a versatile ingredient to have sitting on your counter fermenting.
I hope this has given you some insight and encouragement on my thoughts to active yeast as a beginner. Everyone needs a little boost of help in the beginning, it’s a learned skill and a great one to have.
Here is my recipe for this Easy Same Day Sourdough Bread with Active Dry Yeast!
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