Just don’t use grapefruit beer if you don’t like grapefruit. Last year, we had a summer beer selection and it included grapefruit beer. None of us liked it so I thought making bread with it would be a good way to get rid of it. The bread tasted fine but it sure smelled like grapefruit!
Nothing really. Most proofing baskets have a woven pattern that will imprint on the risen loaf for a decorative finish. I can’t think of any other benefit. Maybe someone else can.
As far as I can tell, letting it rise on basket (lined with a flour impregnated piece of linen) is that it looks prettier when you bake it.
Article on the yeast supply chain, if you are wondering why it is hard to find:
https://slate.com/business/2020/04/yeast-shortage-supermarkets-coronavirus.html
I shouldn’t tell people that I ordered yeast. Because now, they want me to send some of mine to them.
My sister in law who lives in Brooklyn was so grateful for some things I sent them that they could not secure that she offered to send me some packets of active yeast (2 of the 3 pack strips) when I told her I haven’t been able to find any for weeks. (she had ordered a large amount of yeast early in their quarantine - the blocks of it I think.
Well, we haven’t received the package yet. I’m thinking someone intercepted it somewhere along the mailing route. 
(we will survive though!! It touched me so much that they - who are living a much more difficult live of SIP and supplies than us would offer to share) <3
The link I shared in post #76 still shows yeast as available.
I got 2 pounds of yeast in my HEB curbside pickup yesterday. For some reason it costs $3 is a pound. That is impossible to beat. I gave one to my baking neighbor but was shocked it turned up.
DD got gold package yeast not red. Apparently gold is for sweets and red for bread. Is there really a difference we would need to be concerned about?
I sent a package of the yeast I got from modernist pantry to my daughter. Sent priority mail, took a week to get there. But someone stole the yeast! I put a personal hand sanitizer and hand lotion in the package, they showed up, the yeast was gone!
As my daughter said, these are crazy times we are living in!
^^^OMG there must be a yeast thief!!! How do they know?!!
I baked the 5 ingredient Beer Bread today. It smells great. We will have it with the split pea soup (had to use the Easter ham bone) tonight…bread with sweet butter! It was so easy to make!
I have a whole wheat flour (HEB bakers scoop) that is horribly behaved, it is a very course grind, and I found whizzing it around the vitamix with 1 tsp vital gluten per cup or less makes it perfectly well behaved. I am pretty sure the use of any blender to better distribute VWG in any APF or WW flour will be advantageous for bread making. My grocery is out of bread flour at the moment and I am not bothered enough to pay through the nose for online suppliers.
The problem is that whole wheat flour and vital wheat gluten are not that either to find either.
I was so happy to find KA flour at Publix today! I have yeast but was having a tough time replenishing my flour. I was able to get some all purpose and white whole wheat. I almost started dancing in the aisle.
Well my dreams of making bread are temporarily halted as my sister in law in NYC was so kind to send ME extra packets of yeast she had (when their resources are so hard to get - bless her heart) because her envelope arrived, sliced unlike bread on the sides of the envelope and sans yeast!!! COME ON - Yeast thief!!!
I mean if the post office was concerned it was drug (powder) or something they could have examined it and taped the envelope back up. So disgusting.
@abasket, not funny but you are I are victims of yeast thieves! ? l ordered more yeast and had modernist pantry send it directly to daughter. I also filed a claim with USPS for the cost of replacement. It will be interesting if they pay.
But seriously, who is stealing yeast?
New poster here, lurking on CC for half a year, but just had to comment on a bread thread!
I highly recommend starting your own sourdough–it was so easy. I had a bit of wasted starter for half a week, but my hens adore it. And now usually use it for rosemary/garlic/Parmesan flat bread. Kids love it. And btw, my regular loaves are only slightly sour after a 20 hour ferment. If I do a quicker ferment at room temp, it doesn’t taste sour at all.
For any sourdough bakers out there, do you have any tips for pizza dough? This is next on my list.
So sorry about the yeast thievery. That’s brutal.
Welcome @Zinnia203 ! (Zinnias are my favorite flower!)
What starter recipe did you use??
And @deb922 it’s a travesty! There is one other person I know who had her yeast disappear in the mail! I’ll bet it’s all selling on eBay! Think about it, those nice light yeast packets (if that’s the form) is light and cheap to mail but you can probably get a high price for it now. Awful.
I used equal weight flour and lukewarm water. I started with 100 g each, but sometimes now feed 50-75 g, depending on volume capacity of my quart Mason jar.
I’ve started using a basket for my final proof and found it wicks up water and dries the outer shell a good bit more. I think this helps me get a better score cut in the top before baking. And I like the pretty rings of flour on the loaf…
Edited to add, when I began my starter I didn’t have a kitchen scale, so used a scant 3/4 c flour (or 1/2 c + 2 T) and 1/2 c water. I used all purpose, which was all I could find. I started seeing bubbles within two days.