Cook Q&A: 3 yeasts give rise to confusion

Q: What’s the difference between regular yeast, quick-rising yeast and new pizza dough yeast?

A: Peter Reinhart, bread and pizza expert and a chef-instructor for Johnson & Wales University, helped us figure out the difference between regular and quick-rising or instant yeast, sometimes called bread machine yeast.

“Instant yeast doesn’t need to be dissolved in advance in warm water,” he says. “Active dry yeast requires blooming it first in warm water to dissolve the crystals.” Since that saves a step, it makes it quicker and simplifies mixing a dough.

Reinhart wasn’t familiar with pizza dough yeast, which is fairly new. While we have heard that it does yield faster results, we wonder if it may be shorter on flavor. Allowing dough to rise slowly, even overnight, allows fermentation that gives better flavor to the dough. So dough made with a faster yeast may not be as good as dough that gets more rising time.

MCT