Hi there! Have you cleaned out your pantry lately? I did last week and had to throw out a couple of things but thankfully most of the food was still good to eat.
That's how I found 5 cups of active dry yeast. Yep. You read that right--5 cups. Two years ago, I decided I was going to start baking all our bread. So I went to Costco and bought 2 pounds of yeast.
Obviously, we've been buying bread from the store for the past two years.
I figured I'd have to throw it out. I kept it in the pantry in a sealed container but yeast only lasts about 2 years from the time it's packaged. Before I tossed it though, I followed the directions at King Arthur Flour for testing yeast for viability.
Basically, I mixed 1/2 teaspoon sugar with 1/2 cup of warm water then stirred in 2 teaspoons of yeast. After 10 minutes it should be bubbly and foamy. After another 10 minutes, it should be so foamy that it forms a dome of bubbles. Guess what? The yeast was still alive!
From left to right--yeast mixture at 0 minutes, 10 minutes and 20 minutes.
I was really excited--until I realized I had a problem.
You see, I tried to stock up on flour when I knew we'd be staying home to slow the spread of COVID-19, but the stores have been out each time I checked.
I definitely have time to bake all our bread.
Now if I only had more than 2 bags of flour.
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