instructables
Secret of Yeast
by MaraCreates
As a child I loved to visit my Grandmother, she
always baked a fresh loaf of bread just for me, I
wasn't a big bread eater, but I would devour her
Whole Wheat bread. When I grew up I tried to
recreate her bread and even have the recipe she
used, but it never came out the same. Sometimes the
dough wouldn't rise, or it would be so hard after
baking that I could have used it as a door stop!
What was I doing wrong?
Secret of Yeast: Page 1
I had her recipe, I was following it but it never turned
out right :( AND THEN I discovered THE SECRET, it
is all about the Temperature of the liquid, whether you
are using water or milk, the liquid should be at 110
degrees Fahrenheit. So get your thermometer's
ready it is time to make your kitchen smell like freshly
baked yeasty goodness of Pizza, Cinnamon Rolls or
even my Grandmother's recipe of Homemade bread!
Step 1: Liquid Temperature
Yeast Secret, heat Liquid Ingredients till 110
degrees Fahrenheit.
Liquid Temperature is the MOST important thing to
making a Yeast recipe, the majority of them tell you to
make it "Lukewarm" well let me tell you, don't just go
eyeballing it, or doing the baby bottle test (drip a few
drops on your wrist :) Nope you need to get out a
Oil is a little to heavy taste for most recipes)
Secret of Yeast: Page 2
thermometer and if you don't have one, you will need
to buy one.
I put all of my *Liquid's that a recipe calls for into a
pot, including butter/margarine/vegetable oil. The only
liquid I don't heat up is eggs.
*Milk Water Butter Margarine Vegetable Oils (Olive
Step 2: Dry Ingredients

I also combine all of my dry ingredients together, I do
them in a certain order, first put your flour in the bowl,
then add the salt and mix thoroughly. Salt can have
an adverse effect on yeast, but in baking recipes it is
such a small amount of salt, that this is not a problem,
but to be on the safe side, mix it well with the flour.
Now add the dry yeast and sugar together, sugar
helps yeast thrive and you do need to add a little bit
to every yeast recipe, the yeast feeds off of it.
Those are the 4 main ingredients in a Yeast recipe,
Flour, Salt, Yeast, Sugar
center first being sure to mix the center well. (See first
photo) If you need to add eggs add it in after this first
small mix.
Then slowly mix in the rest of the flour on the sides,
(see second photo) when it gets to hard to use the
spoon, start using your clean hands to knead the
dough (see third photo)
Knead the dough until no longer sticky, if you need to
add a little more flour then do so, once fully kneaded
cover with a towel (4th photo)

I mix my dry yeast and sugar mostly in the center of Allow to rise for at least an hour (5th photo)
my flour bowl and then when I add my liquid, I mix the

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Step 3: Pizza Recipe

Pizza dough: makes 4 thin crust pizza's or 2 thick 1 Tablespoon Butter

crust pizza's
Yeast Secret, heat till 110 degrees F
Liquid Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups Water

5 cups Flour (All Purpose Flour) Sit allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.

1/2 teaspoon salt (mix in with flour) Roll out the Pizza dough to fit your pan

1 package of dry yeast (1 Tablespoon) Top with your favorite ingredients

1 Tablespoon of Sugar Making Pizza at home saves me over 30euros and

we eat Pizza about once a week, so that is a savings
Mix as described in the previous step. of 120euro's a month, WOWZERS!

Secret of Yeast: Page 4

Secret of Yeast: Page 5
Step 4: Cinnamon Roll Recipe

My All time favorite Sunday Morning treat! warmed milk/water/butter liquid has been mixed in
with a portion of the dry ingredients.
Liquid Ingredients:
Sit allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
1 cup milk
Roll out the dough in a rectangular shape.
1/4 cup water
Cinnamon Roll filling:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup of White Castor Sugar
Yeast Secret, heat till 110 degrees F
3/4 cup of Brown Sugar
1 egg (remember don't heat this up, or you will have
scrambled eggs :) 1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon

Dry Ingredients: Raisin's are optional

1/4 cup melted butter

4 cups of Flour (All Purpose Flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt (mix in with flour)
1 package of dry yeast (1 Tablespoon)
1/2 cup of Sugar
Mix as described in the Dry Ingredients step, adding
the egg after the initial first mix of the 110 degree
Mix the sugar's and Cinnamon together, pour the
butter over the top of the rolled out dough, sprinkle
the sugar mixture evenly over the top.
Roll the rectangle up and cut into even pieces, place
on a greased pan and allow to rise for an hour, then
place in the 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

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Step 5: Grandma's Bread Recipe

Makes (2) 9"x5" loaves 2 packages yeast (2 Tablespoons)

Liquid Ingredients: 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup water Mix as described in the Dry Ingredients step.

1 cup milk
Sit allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
1/2 cup sunflower oil
Divide the dough in half and place in 2 greased 9"x5"
Yeast Secret, heat till 110 degrees F
Rise a second time for 1 hour
Dry Ingredients:
Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven (if the top's
3 cups Flour (all purpose flour) are browning to much place a piece of foil over top
while baking)
3 cups Wheat Flour
Enjoy the smell of delicious Homemade Bread!
2 teaspoons of salt (mix in well with the flour)

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I had the same issue when I first started using yeast in my baking. A thermometer can be a life
saver :D

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