Sainsburys in Sydenham will also sell fresh yeast from the bakery. Just have to ask.

I doubt very much that the Sainsburys in FH will sell any as they don't have an on-site bakery.

Thanks for the yeast tips. I bought some fresh yeast today at Hurst bakery on Lordship Lane (near the cookshop and ED Deli) £1.60 for 100g.[/u]

Good to know, ivor.

It's funny that you feel you are working up to trying sourdough whereas to me, the idea of using fresh yeast feels far more scary and more of a hassle.

Applespider, I have never had a problem using fresh yeast as I love cooking and I see it as just another ingredient, albeit one that requires certain conditions to work properly. It is the responsibility of a starter that worries me - from its birth on your kitchen counter to its feeding and nurturing, finding a carer for holidays, nevermind the difficulty of finding a name for it. And what if it dies? Clearly I have commitment issues....

Thanks for the tip Ivor. The starters require too much forethought for me at the moment so I will come back to that once I've tried the 'same day' stuff. I have found a HFW soda bread recipe that doesn't look too scary so will let you all know how it turns out.

Hi Annsquire66, Good luck with the soda bread. And let us know how the sourdough goes, too, if you get there before me!

By the way, anyone following the recipe I posted for cinnamon buns might be confused by the fact that I have left the butter out of the 'cinnamon butter' bit of the recipe. It should be 80g of butter, divided into four portions, and then spread onto each portion of rolled dough, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Sorry for any confusion!

Sorry, ivor, been away so haven't had a chance to reply to say that your commitment post made me giggle.

I'm just so the other way round. The knowledge that I've gone out and got fresh yeast that needs to be used, can be killed relatively easily and has fairly precise timing requirements makes me shake. Sammy (my starter - easy name since he's named after Sourdough Sam who is my NFL team's mascot) just needs taken out of the fridge and fed the night before before hibernating again.

This weekend, I'm at home so if the weather isn't great, I may give the yeasted stuff a try.

Nice website run by Allinsons for all things baking.

http://www.bakingmad.com/

After a false start with the HFW soda bread recipe- brick anyone?- I've just made one using the recipe I found on the BBC food website. Scrummy- very happy
Will venture further into the world of breadmaking once I'm sure today's success wasn't a fluke

Hi all.

I bake bread fairly frequently. I've used sourdough starters and fresh yeast in the past, but now I just use the instant yeast from FH sainsbury's. I get delicious bread every time. I think this is the first time instant yeast has been mentioned in this thread - is it taboo or something?

Hello Mandy_playbox, I don't think dried yeast is taboo! I think we are all fairly new to baking bread on this thread and it's still a bit scary for us. I use fresh yeast because that's what's listed in all my recipes and I'm not sure about substituting dried for fresh yeast. Is there a ratio?

I will be starting sourdough this weekend so may be coming here for advice!

I don't follow any recipes - I make it up as I go along - so I'm not sure about ratios. But I use a sachet of instant yeast for 500g of flour (this is probably too much if you follow any rules, but it works fine for me).

There is a significant difference between 'Instant' yeast and 'Dried' yeast..

Dried yeast is just that and needs to be reactivated before use and is only suitable for hand baking, as is fresh yeast.

'Instant' yeast is micro-encapsulated and is the only type really suitable for use in Bread making machines, although you can also use it for hand baking.