You do not need hot water to activate the yeast. Once foamy, stir it with a spoon or a fork until the yeast is completely dissolved. It should be smooth and silky and you can carry on with the rest of the recipe. You do not need sugar to activate the yeast.
Be patient. Initially, I like to stir the yeast, just to make sure everything is well mixed, but after that, leave it alone. A healthy activated yeast will start to pop to the top and bubble. After about 10 minutes, the top of the water should be foamy, frothy, and smell slightly of wheat or beer.
Water: For best results, use water that is heated to 110 – 115 degrees Fahrenheit and use a thermometer. Any temperature between 75 degrees and 130 degrees should work, but yeast dies at 138 degrees. Some recipes use milk instead of water to activate yeast, so just follow your recipe.
Instant yeast is simple to use
Mix instant yeast with your flour and other dough ingredients; there's no need to dissolve it in warm water or another liquid first, as you might with active dry or other yeasts that need to be proofed (i.e., dissolved to ensure they're alive).
If the yeast does not foam after proofing, there could be a few reasons why. The most common is that the yeast has either expired or was not stored properly. If you're working with yeast that does not foam, you'll need to discard the yeast and buy a fresh batch before continuing the recipe.
It's not recommended to stir the mash after adding the yeast, especially after fermentation has begun. There are risks of contamination by bacteria or oxygen. It could also cause the yeast to clump together, and the beer would not ferment properly.
The stirring provides oxygen, but also provide a way for the yeast to be in contact with sugar and nutrients.
The liquid was too hot, or not hot enough.
The water temperature should be between 110 - 115 F degrees. If your liquid is too hot (i.e. boiling) it will kill the yeast and prevent the rise. If it's not hot enough, the yeast won't have the heat needed to bloom.
The water needs to be between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit (37 to 43 degrees Celsius). If the water is too cold, the yeast will not "wake up." If the water is too hot, you run the risk of killing the yeast. Make sure the amount of water you use is not greater than the amount called for in your recipe.
Yeast doesn't need sugar to grow.
Actually, it does; but it doesn't need you to spoon-feed it from your sugar bowl. Yeast readily makes its own food supply by transforming flour's starch into sugar. Yes, sugar jump-starts yeast right at the beginning, but yeast dough without sugar will soon catch up.
Activate Your Yeast
Combine the ingredients above into the 1 or 2 cup measuring cup. Stir gently and then let sit for 5-10 minutes. It will begin to slightly bubble when you mix it together. Then, just let it sit and activate.
How long should you stir your starter? The rule of thumb is 12–24 hours. Suspended as they are in the swirling solution, your yeast will gobble up the oxygen on offer and use it to reproduce. The swirling motion also discourages the yeast from flocculating, or clumping up and settling to the bottom of the flask.
Once you add the yeast you will want to stir the fermenting wine must around as much as you can. The goal is to not allow any of the pulp to become too dry during the fermentation. Stirring it around once or twice a day should be sufficient. In a winery they call this punching the cap.
That foam means the yeast is alive. You can now proceed to combine the yeast mixture with the flour and other dry ingredients in your recipe. If there is no foam, the yeast is dead and you should start over with a new packet of yeast.
After 10 minutes, the mixture should be bubbly. Once you've proved the yeast is alive, go ahead and add it to your recipe – reducing the water in the recipe by 1/4 cup.
130° F—140° F (55° C–60° C) Yeast cells die (thermal death point).
No, instant dried yeast does not need proofing. You can add it dry into the mixing bowl with the other ingredients.
With dry yeast, if your water is too cold, the yeast will not activate. Or, if they do wake up, they might release a substance that hinders the formation of gluten. Then again, if your water is too hot, you will kill the little buggers and they will be useless.
Activating yeast in milk follows the same steps as activating it in water. The only change is that you don't need to add sugar. But you'll still stick to the 100–110℉ temperature and the 10- to 15-minute “leave it to do its thing” window.
Too much yeast could cause the dough to go flat by releasing gas before the flour is ready to expand. If you let the dough rise too long, it will start having a yeast or beer smell and taste and ultimately deflate or rise poorly in the oven and have a light crust.
Once you get the yeast on the water, add about a teaspoon of granulated sugar. Yeast is fed by sugar and this will help it multiply and activate with a little snack in its belly. Basically it speeds up the process.
Salt is also an essential ingredient in bread making; it contributes to the structure and flavor of the bread, and is necessary for the yeast to work properly.
Without salt present to rein in its activity, the yeast will go wild eating all of the sugar available in the dough from enzymatic activity, like an overactive Pac-Man machine. Adding salt prevents the yeast from reproducing too quickly, thus allowing you to control the rate at which the dough ferments.