How to Make Yeast From Scratch (DIY) with a Potato

are you actually still paying money for store-bought bread yeast do you find yourself wanting to bake but you don't have any yeast on hand if so you're watching the right video our ancestors actually never used store-bought yeast the first commercial yeast cake was even invented until 1825. active dry yeast didn't come into full production until the 1940s so how do they make bread in this video sean will run you through the process of pulling wild yeast from the air using only potatoes and a little sugar and he'll bake some of the best bread you'll ever eat in your life so let's jump in please consider subscribing to our newsletter by clicking on the link in the description and comment section below if you enjoy this video please subscribe and click the like button to help the channel grow this is one of the oldest methods of pulling yeast from the air and it has been used for centuries by your ancestors you might not ever buy store-bought yeast again i'll run you through the whole recipe and method and i will give you just enough history this process will take at least 12 hours or full day so you won't be able to start it and bake bread an hour later what you get as a reward for your patience though is maybe some of the best bread you will ever eat in your life it will have a better texture and a better flavor than regular bread i'll provide you with that recipe at the end of this video you'll need a potato potato peeler small sauce pan with lid one and a half cups water one teaspoon of sugar one tablespoon flour and a mason jar or similar jar with a lid begin by peeling the potato making sure to remove all the skin i usually give it a quick rinse as well to remove any dirt or dust the cleaner it is the better cube the potato just like you might for a potato salad in about one inch rough pieces place them in a saucepan with water and boil if your water is heavily chlorinated you may want to purchase some spring water for this process so much fermentation comes from the quality of your initial water and yeast hates chlorine place them on the stove and let them boil for about 10 minutes you want them to be easily mashable with just a fork and a little pressure remove from the heat and mash in the water until you have no large chunks it should resemble mashed potatoes in milky water when you're done here my water boiled off that's not a problem i just add some more water and bring it to a boil again stir in the teaspoon of sugar while hot and gently place the saucepan lid on top and set aside you'll need it to come completely to room temperature for the next step once it has cooled to room temperature in your saucepan or very near to room temperature give it a swirl and pour it into your mason jar let it cool completely to room temperature with a loose lid on the jar what you've created at this point is a semi-pasteurized slurry of starch and sugar the yeast love this is often referred to as a liquid broth you want to keep it covered and sealed at this point because both yeast and bacteria will love to move in and start eating up all those sugars and breaking down the starches further we want to let the yeast have first dibs at the slurry so we're letting it come down to room temperature to create the most inviting environment yeast works by eating the sugars and expelling co2 and alcohol the trace amounts of alcohol cook away but the co2 is trapped in the dough imparting tiny air bubbles and providing the grain and light texture to the bread this same yeast could be used to ferment beverages and the potato method is used by old world vodka distillers and some even today for making bread yeast we are more interested in the co2 part of the yeast feast the bubbling created by the yeast eating the sugars and enzymatically breaking down the edges of starch strings acts as a leavening agent and causes the bread to rise without it you'll have a dense and hard cracker the addition of a potato in a standard bread recipe provides more nutrients for the yeast to stay healthy this will result in fluffy bread with excellent light grain quality store-bought yeast is a couple of different strains that have been isolated because of the particular way they work with dough yeast does impart flavor as well so bread dough yeast provides very narrow and specific flavor range yeast is a fungus but don't think of it as a mushroom they're on the surface of any fruit you pick from apples to grapes to berries all we are doing with this method is attracting the yeast that loves to eat sugar so let's return to the wild yeast we are cultivating from the air with the potato once it has reached room temperature in the mason jar you should see significant separation the potato is at the bottom and the milky water is on the top you will get a slight boiled potato smell from it if it has a sourdough smell to it that's okay it just means that the lactic acid bacteria are in your mix as well this is what gives sourdough it's flavor your finished bread will have a sourdough flavor as a result at this point set the jar with the lid off next to an open window or outside in a shaded area with light breeze for 10 minutes repeat this open air exposure two or three times over six hours replace the lid loosely each time and return it to your cool spot in the kitchen after 12 hours or a full day you should see bubbling at the top of your liquid it should have a bready yeasty or sourdough smell starting to develop it's okay if you can't detect that scent yet if you don't have either the bubbling or the bready smell developing repeat the open air process for another 10 minutes if you have any colored mold of any kind throw it out and start over some say to just clear this off and let the yeast growth continue but i don't trust molds so it's best to start over the yeast however tends to be faster to grow than mold once you see bubbling occurring around the surface of the liquid add the tablespoon of flour don't use any metal utensils at this point so as not to inhibit or dull yeast growth i just placed the tablespoon of yeast on top tighten the lid and shake it until mixed each time you place the potato starter in your quiet cool place in your kitchen make sure that the cap is loose the co2 gases can escape the addition of the flower encourages yeast growth specific to the consumption of the sugars derived from the starches in the flower you're creating an environment that is best suited to saccharomyces cervicia yeast technically you could use the potato starter as soon as you see the bubbling but you will have better results if you let the yeast grow and reproduce it will work faster when you inoculate your dough with millions or billions of yeast than it will if you do it with a hundred thousand yeast cells when you have significant bubbling occurring or you see globules floating to the surface on the co2 and dropping back down when the gas is released on the surface you're ready to make bread this is what i wait for congratulations you've successfully pulled yeast out of the air and created a colony of millions of single cell organisms if you aren't ready to bake bread you can treat this as a starter and add another tablespoon of flour you will keep on your counter for about a day with no problem in a few days if you put it in your refrigerator because you were using wild yeast however you want to use it when the specific yeast we want is most active and that's right now if you wait too long you run the risk of the yeast living its full life cycle and dying off and other bacteria is taking hold that can impart off or sour flavors and result in little to no rising of your dough here's the best bread recipe you will ever bake to use a potato you starter you simply need to pour off the starchy water at the top and use it in place of water in any bread recipe i like to use the whole starter though as i think the potato lends a smooth and fluffy texture to the bread when you do this though you have to have a good understanding of bread dough make sure it isn't too sticky and not too dense you can adjust this by adding and working in one tablespoon of flour if it's too sticky repeat with one tablespoon of flour until your dough isn't too sticky or too wet this will make two delicious loaves one for you and one for a friend add two tablespoons of sugar to six and a half cups of bread flour add two teaspoons salt next add one and a half cups potato water to the dry ingredients to this you will add a half cup milk as well then add four tablespoons of butter i measure this out by simply eyeballing it a little extra butter won't hurt your mix mix the dough until all the ingredients are combined knead in the bowl until a stiff dough is formed remember if it's too sticky just add and work in flour one tablespoon at a time until you have a firm dough that isn't visibly wet on the surface conversely if your dough is much too dry and won't come together nicely for you just add in a tablespoon of water or milk at a time until you get a nice dough ball that feels moist but isn't sticky or dry knead until smooth and elastic this will take about five to eight minutes place in a grease bowl cover the bowl with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and allow it to rise in a warm area of your kitchen but not in direct sunlight your dough should double in size when it has turn it onto a lightly floured surface and punch it down pinch and shape into two equal loaves and place in buttered greased loaf pans cover and allow them to rise again until they double in size preheat your oven to 350 degrees when the loaves have doubled in their pans place in the preheated oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes after 35 to 40 minutes when the tops are lovely golden brown remove your loaves from the oven when they are baked completely i like to turn them onto a wire rack and brush the top with some melted butter if you can't wait and cut them while hot be sure to set the loaf on your cutting board with the cut side down so the moisture won't escape enjoy that's all there is to it if you know how to bake bread and pull yeast out of the air with a potato any disaster can befall you and you will have the basic ability to make bread there are countless variations to both the potato yeast starter and the basic bread recipe i would love to hear how your loaves turn out and if you have any additions or alterations to the recipe like using honey instead of sugar leave them in the comments below remember to give this video the thumbs up and consider subscribing to the channel for more great practical prepping recipes and skills keep building your skills

Channel: City Prepping

Views: 551,383

Rating: 4.9368963 out of 5

Keywords: yeast, potato yeast, diy yeast, how to make yeast at home, make bread, prepper, preppers, doomsday preppers, emergency preparedness

Id: foefRk4ivX8

Length: 10min 38sec (638 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 24 2021