yeast

Fresh (cake) yeast

Cold-aisle compressed yeast; the AVPN choice.

About

Fresh yeast is moist, compressed cake yeast — about 70% water, sold refrigerated in 0.6 oz cubes (American supermarket) or 500 g blocks (European bakery). It's what most professional Italian pizzerie still use; the AVPN disciplinare for Neapolitan calls for it specifically. Crumble it directly into the flour or dissolve it in a portion of the recipe water. The flavor it produces in long ferments is slightly milder and more bread-like than instant. Storage is the catch: it lasts only 2–3 weeks refrigerated, and freezing degrades it sharply.

History

Fresh yeast (lievito di birra) was the standard baker's yeast worldwide before the dry yeasts of the mid-20th century displaced it for shelf-life reasons. It survives in professional baking and in countries — Italy, Germany, France — where bakeries refresh stock daily.

Substitutes