Yeast! And Flour! Oh my!

Quarantine Bread Baking. Never ever would I have imagined a shortage of yeast, flour, eggs… Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bleach, seeds, chickens, PROTECTIVE MASKS AND GEAR FOR HEALTHCARE WORKERS, VENTILATORS AND HOSPITAL BEDS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE DYING. I digress…

Bread Baking is apparently THE THING to do during a pandemic. There are about 227 articles floating around the internet about this rediscovered sensation. I will share some of them at the end of this post. (I want you to read MY WORDS first!)

It’s odd to me that YEAST is out of stock. But oddly, comforting if this means everyone is home making all the homemade bread. I am one of the rare people who have a stocked pantry full of flour, so that’s not a problem…(I did need to get wheat though.) And at any given month I may have a sourdough starter going…and packets of yeast in the fridge.

However, when I went to make bread recently and I turned to the yeast stockpile I saw I used up all the packets and this is what remained.

Oops. Expired. And no sign of yeast in sight at the stores online.

So, I started another sourdough baby. This one I named Stephen, as in Dr. Stephen Strange. He’s doing pretty well. HWMMS said he smelled like vinegar, so that’s a step in the right direction.

I’ve been baking this recipe – Sourdough Sandwich Bread – the last week or so and had mediocre results. Obviously with old yeast the rise isn’t well, too good.

After an extensive search for yeast online, I stumbled upon this page – Bakers Authority.

And they had lots and lots of flours and yeast available to purchase!

So I did.

And it arrived yesterday! Hurrah! (Um, that’s 4 pounds of yeast there…I did go a wee bit hoarder, but I will share!)

HWMMS also is requesting fancy bread. Like Rye and Pumpernickel. I did not have these flours, so I ordered a few of those too. Experiment time! As I looked through some online recipes for these dark breads, I realize I also need a whole bunch of spices (and more molasses!) So the fancy bread might need to wait a little longer.

Right now, I have two more loaves rising. (With the new yeast.) And I’m hopeful for a sandwich loaf of goodness.

The other thing I realized I NEED for my sourdough breads—a banneton (proofing basket) SO THAT’S HOW THE LOAVES LOOK SO FANCY. My bread making is very beginning level. I have much to learn.

And now, time for…

Some of the 227+ Recent Articles About Bread Baking and Yeast Shortage During These Uncertain Times

Jake Gyllenhaal whispered to his rising homemade bread, and people are raving about the actor’s sourdough starter expertise

I Baked Sourdough Bread From a Viral Tweet and It Didn’t Kill Me

Baking sourdough bread has become a cliché of non-essential privilege in the social isolation era.

Everyone is baking — and entrepreneurs are rising up to meet the demand

In the age of COVID-19, bread-baking — a 14,000-year-old craft — has experienced an upswing in popularity that many experts say is unprecedented.

What Does Your Sourdough Starter Smell Like? Science Wants to Know

But those looking to find a way for their delinquent starters to contribute to society can upload the microbial mix’s vitals to the Wild Sourdough Project from the Public Science Lab at North Carolina State University. The lab is searching far and wide to learn more about the microbes that make up winning and losing starters, and they’re asking the public to contribute.

Amateur Bakers, Cooped Up at Home, Are Making Flour a Hot Commodity

Sales of baking yeast were up 457% over last year for the week ending March 28, according to Nielsen data. Flour was up 155%, baking powder up 178%, butter up 73% and eggs up 48%.

Why everyone’s suddenly baking bread

“It’s funny because only one month ago, everyone was on a gluten-free diet. Now, suddenly everyone is a baker.”

People are baking bread like crazy, and now we’re running out of flour and yeast

The coronavirus has created the perfect environment for a surge in bread-baking. People suddenly have time around the house to do fiddly things they wouldn’t normally, like proofing yeast and monitoring rising dough. Some are looking for a fulfilling hobby, or for sustenance for their families, or just something to do with the home-schooled kids that’s not another video game. Measuring, kneading and shaping dough can be a balm for the anxiety that has accompanied the virus. And some people, faced with the prospect of the conveniences of modern life being upended, are feeling the need to be self-reliant, even in small ways.

Our Pandemic Baking Binges Are Causing a Yeast Shortage

There are two major challenges when it comes to getting those tiny packets back in stock anywhere. First, there’s a limit to how quickly yeast, you know, happens. “Yeast takes a certain time to go from one cell to two cells,”

No One Can Bake Bread Anymore Because This Lady Needs All The Yeast For Herself

READ THIS. SO RIDICULOUS AND PRIVILEGED.