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Home › Forums › Baking — Breads and Rolls › What are you Baking the Week of March 1, 2026?
aaronatthedoublef.Has anyone have instant yeast start growing and fail? I was making another batch of Hot Cross Buns and wanted to use some Instant Yeast I had been given by a friend. I started my normal sponge and the yeast grew and had bubbles and made a thick sponge. Than I mixed in eggs and sugar and flour. This is a relatively sweet dough. Nothing happened when I let it sit for awhile before kneading in butter and spices, but it was a short time so I didn't expect much. I then left it for 6 hours and the dough hasn't risen at all!! Did the yeast fail because of too much sugar?
I have added a little water and some active dry yeast and am now waiting to see if this fixes things.
How much sugar was in the dough?
Also, how much liquid?
BakerAunt;
7 tablespoons of sugar. 1 cup whole milk, 1/4 cup water and 2 eggs. A little over 4 cups of flour. Also 1 cup of butter. This is the Hot Cross Bun recipe I've been doing twice this year and three or four times last year. Adding a little yeast at 7:30 doesn't seem to have fixed things. I'm going to have to try more yeast.
Your sugar is about 17% of your flour weight, so that is definitely a high-sugar product.
Might just be your yeast, in a recipe like that I'd probably want to use an osmotolerant yeast like SAF Gold.
Skeptic, how much yeast did you use initially? You might need extra if you do not have the SAF gold.
BakerAunt;
I used a teaspoon of yeast the first time around. I know that isn't very much but I started with a sponge, and that amount of yeast works with Fleishman Active Dry Yeast and this recipe. I normally make a sponge with all the milk and about a cup of flour and the yeast and water. The sponge had risen nicely and was light and full of bubbles. The dough seems to have risen a bit since this morning and the additional yeast. I probably used another teaspoon then.
I formed the Hot Cross Buns into well buns last night and it rose respectfully by this morning, that is 10 hours later. I'm baking it now and hoping for the best. I'm surprised at the differences between different strains of yeast. Does the brand matter? I have a jar of Kroger's Active dry yeast to use now. I'm going to have to try using the Instant yeast for a pizza
Although the various yeast makers are all using S. Cerevisiae, there are different strains of it, and some are packaged with other ingredients that influence yeast activity or use a company-specific process for drying it, so, yes, they can perform differently.
I've had very good luck over the years with Fleischmann's IDY, the only recipe I have experienced problems with was James Beard's Monkey Bread recipe, which is extremely high in sugar; it took about 12 hours for the final proofing. It worked better with Red Star ADY. (I haven't tried it with SAF Gold.)
I just read the labels on my yeast. I am ashamed to admit that they are both the same but in different packages Kroger's Fast Rise Yeast in the jar, and in envelopes. They are suppose to be mixed with the dry ingredients. Previously I was using Fleishman's Active Dry Yeast to good results, and before that Red Star ADY also without problems.
I normally buy some brand of active dry yeast and use it for all my cooking. I don't like instant yeasts as I normally make a sponge or at least proof my yeast and don't need the quick dissolve feature. I've used cake yeasts for recipes that called for it but its hard to find.
Kroger and other store brands probably source from the lowest bidder, so the manufacturer could vary, thus providing inconsistent results.
I hope your Hot Cross Buns came out ok, Skeptic.
I baked a new recipe today, Chewy Sourdough Rolls. The recipe appeared at least once in the King Arthur Bread Company catalog, and it is on their site. As always, I made a few changes. I replaced 2 cups of the 3 ½ cups bread flour with that much whole wheat flour. I cut the salt from 2 tsp. to 1 tsp. I used active yeast and added ¼ tsp. honey to activate it. The recipe gives a water range of 1 cup to 1 ½ cup, probably because sourdough starters vary. I began with 1 cup and later added an additional oz., for a total of 9 oz.
I used the Ankarsrum to mix and knead the dough. I started with 8 minutes of kneading on second speed, then added another 2 minutes, then 2 more. The dough required most of the 90 minutes to rise because the house is cool. The second rise was slightly less than an hour. I used the 4.2-qt Emile Henry ceramic Dutch oven for which the recipe was designed, but plenty of recipe reviewers had great workarounds for those who do not have this pot. While the recipe called for an oven at 500 F, that is then lowered to 450 F. when the pot is added, I just used a set temperature of 450 F. I also greased the Dutch oven and coated it with farina (cream of wheat) to prevent sticking--a problem that several reviewers mentioned. I baked it for 25 minutes, then for an additional 7 minutes uncovered. I turned it out of the pot to cool, even though the recipe says to let it cool in the pot. We gave it 20 minutes to cool, then I cut a roll apart for each of us to use for our dinner sandwiches. Ideally, I would have let them cool completely, but we were hungry, and it was getting late. We love the taste. I will be baking them again with my changes
The Hot Cross Buns were great. They rose a bit when baked and were nicely light and fluffy. I used dried cherries and dried cranberries for the fruit. I've given some away to neighbors with dogs. I like to make at least one batch of Hot Cross buns which are raisin free and safe for dogs. I had one friend who couldn't tolerate raisins -- she got cold sores when eating them -- and loved the idea of raisin free Hot Cross buns.
Isn't Fast rise different from instant yeast?
Depends on who you ask, one of the major makers said they're all pretty much the same, but some of them have something like ascorbic acid added to help give the yeast a boost.