The most common question that is asked is if active dry yeast is the same as instant yeast. If you are a beginner/someone who has just started out making pizzas then this might be a little confusing for you as well.
While browsing recipes on YouTube something that would really confuse me, in the beginning, is the type of yeast that they were using. I thought that instant yeast and active dry yeast were the same.
This resulted in some really useless dough mixtures that I made, that had to be thrown out. However, I re-evaluated all the steps that I was following to make pizza dough and soon realized that the yeast was the issue.
Imagine finding balls of yeast in your dough, it was disgusting. Well, I learned it the hard way so in this post you would learn everything that you need to know about the two types of yeast that are used in making pizza doughs.
1. Active Dry Yeast
This is the kind of yeast that is easily available in stores around me and this is something that I use even today. Active Dry Yeast is something that took me a little time to understand because I used it as instant dry yeast.
Yes, I did the sin of adding it directly to my dry ingredients which is not the right way. The Active dry yeast needs to be activated first and for that, you need to add some dry yeast to lukewarm water.
Make sure that the water is warm enough for you to insert your finger without burning it. This way you can get an idea that the water is not too hot.
I usually add a 1tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of yeast to half a cup of warm water. This way the yeast gets all puffed up within a few minutes.
Now, you can add this to your dry ingredients that you have set aside for making the pizza dough.
The Active Dry yeast will take some time to puff up the dough so once you are done kneading the dough, you might want to give it some 10-15 minutes to rise.
The active dry yeast has larger granules and is slightly brownish in color in comparison to the instant yeast.
You need to set aside the dough after kneading as the yeast takes some time for the dough to rise but with the instant yeast, you do not need to do that because once you finish kneading the dough, the yeast has already done its job.
So, you can instantly start making your pizza dough balls once you are done kneading in the case of the instant yeast.
2. Instant Yeast
Instant yeast has finer granules compared to active dry yeast and you can easily add this to the dry ingredients without dissolving it in lukewarm water first.
Instant yeast is relatively easier to use as you just need to add it with the dry ingredients and you do not have to wait for teh dough to rise after kneading as well.
The dough rises quickly so once you finish kneading you can directly move on to making pizza dough balls.
If you want to make a pizza quickly then going for the instant yeast is going to really help you. If you do not have enough time or patience to wait for the active dry yeast to dissolve in warm water and create the froth, then you should go for instant yeast.
Is the rise and flavor of the dough going to be different?
In my experience, I did not find a considerable change in taste and both the yeast performed equally well. But when you consider teh rise, the active dry yeast does take some time to rise.
I would say it is best to leave it for 30-60 minutes so that the dough can rise and you get the perfect pizza base. The instant yeast does not require this time and it still performs equally well.
So with the active dry yeast, the longer you let the dough sit, the better is the rise.
However, I have been making pizzas using the active dry yeast for quite some time and the extent of rising of the dough after 30-60 minutes, does not affect the taste of the pizza.
So, once you have lt it rise for 30 minutes, teh taste and texture after that is going to remain almost same. So, leave it for 30-60 minutes and you are good.
Is your active dry yeast not creating a froth when dissolved?
The active dry yeast sometimes does not create a froth when dissolved in hot water. If this happens your pizza is just not going to rise.
It would be like flatbread and it really does not taste that great. So, keep these things in mind so that your active dry yeast actually creates the froth that you need for your pizza dough to rise.
1. Take lukewarm water. Too hot water or too cold water will not give the results.
2. Add some sugar.
3. Make sure the yeast you use is fresh and should not be more than 6 months old. Old yeast is not going to create any froth as well.
4. Leave the mixture of water+sugar+yeast for atleast 5-10 minutes to see the froth.
I think I have covered all the things that I needed to related to the active dry yeast and instant yeast. Instant yeast is easier to use but if you live in a place where you get the active dry yeast then you could follow the tips that I have mentioned above.
Either way. if you follow the tips mentioned above then you would get a perfect rising pizza dough that you need in order to make some amazing pizzas at home.
I would usually reply within a day or two so have some patience as well.
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