For a long time, I had been confused about the subject of yeast. The only yeast I knew about was the little packet of active dry yeast or rapid rise yeast that I would sprinkle into my dough. But then I started collecting 19th century cookbooks and found recipes that called for “one gill of fresh yeast” among the other ingredients.
Once I finally figured out what a gill was, though, (about a half a cup,) I was even more confused. I would have to use how many little instant yeast packets to equal a whole half a cup?!
After doing some more research on period cooking, though, I found several recipes for how to make homemade yeast that helped to solve the mystery a bit. Most involve the use of hops or potatoes added to boiling water and flour. The problem with all of those recipes, though, is that they all call for adding “a bit of good fresh yeast” to the mixture – which was exactly what I didn’t have!
And then, just a couple weeks ago, I read a book that cleared up more of the mystery for me (and solved my problem of how to make my own yeast.) The book is The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread, written by Jessie Hawkins of the Vintage Remedies School of Natural Health. This book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the subjects of bread, grains, gluten, modern vs. traditional bread, etc. (Update: The book is out of print now, but you can still sometimes find used copies.)
A Brief History of Homemade Yeast
Once of the most helpful bits of information I found by reading this book was the section on the history of bread and yeast. I learned that modern baker’s yeast, as we know it today, didn’t even exist until 1868. Before then, bread and other baked goods were leavened by other types of wild yeast (or with massive quantities of eggs.)
Even once baker’s yeast became available, though, it was too expensive for some to afford and it was a gradual process for housewives and bakers to get used to this “new-fangled” way of making bread, so many cookbooks published after 1868 still include recipes that call for homemade yeast.
“Emptyings”
In addition to the recipes for making yeast with hops or potatoes, I also saw several references to using “emptins” in old recipes as a leavening agent. These “emptins” or “emptyings” were just as their name implies – the emptyings of leftover dough and batter added to a crock or jar.
Descriptions I’ve read about emptyings seem to be pretty similar to the flour-water mixture for a sourdough starter with scraps of extra dough added to feed the starter. The main difference I’ve seen is that several instructions for how to make emptyings call for using milk rather than water.
I’m not at all an expert on the history of yeast, and this is a topic I’ve only just begun to learn about, but my guess is that “emptyings” and “sourdough” may be related or at least similar. In all of the 19th century recipes I’ve seen and in the entire database of the Historic American Cookbook Project, I have yet to find one recipe that uses the word “sourdough,” but I have seen several recipes that refer to using a sourdough-type leavening.
(Update: I’ve learned from talking with the interpreters at Old Sturbridge Village that one reason why sourdough yeast isn’t mentioned in old cookbooks could be because it wasn’t a preferred flavor for bread at the time, or at least not in the New England area. Since the flavor of sourdough can vary depending on where you live, it’s possible that that’s one reason why it was more popular in the West in places like California. Early 19th century taste might have preferred bread made with yeast that was made from hard cider, beer, or some of the other homemade recipes using potatoes, hops, etc. so that might explain why sourdough isn’t mentioned in cookbooks of the period.)
Making a Sourdough Starter
Once I realized that I could use a sourdough starter for the “homemade yeast” required in so many old recipes, I was immediately interested in learning how to make my own. Making my own sourdough starter had always seemed to intimidating to me, though, which, of course, is why I had been procrastinating starting one for so long.
When I read The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread, though, the process seemed a bit more simple and less intimidating. After all, people have been making sourdough starters for a long, long time without any complicated instructions for how to do it. So, I figured I might as well give it a try. Though I’ve seen many different sourdough starter recipes online, I decided to go with the simplest method of using only flour and water.
Here’s what I did:
Materials and Ingredients
- Quart-Sized Wide-Mouth Mason Jars – I’d definitely recommend getting wide-mouthed ones. They make stirring the starter so much easier.
- Water – For best results, the water should be filtered water or spring water. Chlorine will kill the good bacteria the starter needs to survive.
- Flour – I used an organic unbleached all-purpose flour
. (Many people say that using whole wheat flour can give an “off” flavor to the starter.)
- Cheesecloth for covering the jar. (Fruit flies love hovering around sourdough starters, so you want something that will keep them out but still allow air into the jar.)
Method for Making Homemade Yeast with a Sourdough Starter
- Day 1: Put about 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water into the mason jar. (These measurements don’t have to be exact.) Mix them thoroughly together. The mixture should feel like a thick pancake batter. You don’t want something as thick as biscuit dough, but you don’t want something really thin and runny either. You should feel a bit of resistance when you stir it. If it’s too thick or thin, you can add more water or flour as needed. The consistency seems to be more important than the actual measurements. Once you’ve mixed the flour and water, cover the jar with cheese cloth.
- Day 2: About 24 hours later (it doesn’t have to be exact), feed the starter by giving it around another 1/2 cup of flour and as much water as it needs to reach the same thick batter consistency as the first day you mixed. The starter might have a few bubbles in it by this point. Stir and cover again.
- Day 3: By now, if not sooner, the starter should be looking quite a bit more bubbly, and the top might look almost frothy. Feed again the same as on Day 2, stir, and cover again.
- Day 4 and following: Keep feeding the starter about every 24 hours. It should look actively bubbly. By now, it might be ready to bake with. A lot really depends on the climate of where you live, the temperature inside your house, and the type of starter you have – each region has it’s own unique strains of bacteria so starters in different regions might act differently.
I probably tried baking with mine a bit earlier than most instructions for making sourdough would tell you to do. I was too impatient and too excited to wait, though, so I just went ahead and baked with it. And it worked! My bread rose well enough – maybe not as well as it would have risen if I had waited a little longer, but it was still a perfectly edible loaf of bread.
So, when in doubt, I’d say just try to bake with it and see what happens. The end result might not be perfect the first time, but it will probably still be pretty good 🙂
Once your starter is established, you can probably get away with feeding it a little bit less. I haven’t been feeding mine every single day, and it’s still surviving fine. I’ve been using it quite a bit in different baking experiments, so I’ve kept my starter out on the counter, but if you aren’t planning to bake more than once a week, it’s best to keep it in the fridge so you don’t have to feed it as often and so it doesn’t grow to massive proportions and overflow the jar. If you keep it in the fridge, though, you just have to plan ahead and take it out the day before you want to bake and feed it to make sure it’s active enough.
I’m loving being able to try so many “new” old recipes now that call for cups of homemade yeast. I’ve even branched out now and tried making a cake with my sourdough starter (and it was absolutely delicious! 🙂 )
I was fully expecting my first experiment with sourdough to be a failure, and I was prepared to try it over again several times before I had any success, so I was incredibly surprised and happy when my starter seemed to work right the first time around!
Update 10/22/13: My sourdough starter is still working well, and I’ve been using it regularly to make bread and pancakes.
Update 10/17/16: My starter is still active and working well over three years later!
Update 4/09/20: A couple of years ago (I don’t remember the exact date) my starter developed a bit of an off smell (a little like nail polish remover) probably because I hadn’t fed it often enough and it was summertime so it was more active with the warmer weather and required more regular feeding. Rather than trying to save it, I decided to use my backup sourdough starter (which was actually part of the original starter, so in a sense I’m still using the same starter even though the backup was in the freezer for awhile.) Once the backup starter thawed from the freezer, I started regular feeding (I usually feed mine four days a week) and it’s been going strong for me for the past couple of years.
For more information about maintaining your starter and for sourdough troubleshooting tips, check out my other sourdough posts.
- How Often Should You Feed a Sourdough Starter?
- Tips for Using and Maintaining a Sourdough Starter – Part 1
- Tips for Using and Maintaining a Sourdough Starter – Part 2
- How to Make A Backup Sourdough Starter
You can also try my favorite sourdough bread recipe:
And, since the flavor of homemade yeast can vary depending on where you live and the particular strains of wild yeast in that area, if you decide that you don’t care for the flavor of your homemade yeast, you can also find traditional sourdough starters online to use for your homemade baking.
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I read your advise with great interest;I can probably obtain fresh yeast from my local asda store and ask you how I would
Continue to feed it to make it available for several weeks more, and what would I have to use in the way of ingredients?
many thanks. Tom Newman
Hi Tom,
It would depend on what type of fresh yeast you would be getting. The method I talked about in this post is for a sourdough starter using only flour and water, so unless you’re buying a fresh sourdough yeast, it wouldn’t work to feed it using this same method. Before buying, I would recommend asking the store what type of yeast it is and whether or not it would be possible to feed the yeast to keep it usable for several more weeks since not all types of yeast are able to be fed and maintained like sourdough yeast is.
Many thanks for your comprehensive reply;; unfortunately for me the yeast would be of the type the supermarket uses for their everyday baps and country bread etc.
I shall follow your advice and speak to the staff as you suggested.
I take it that your sourdough bread is in no way related to soda bread which is another method that I have used in the past.
Thanks again , tommy usu
I Love your website, thanks for sharing the info; Jesus Christ Bless you! 🙂
Thank you, Joseph!
Hi
Thanx a lot for the details of homemade yeast. But I have one doubt. Usually at home we think that all purpose flour is maida. If we mix this with water and do not use it before 24 hours it gets spoiled and is disposed without using. So I am confused with homemade recipe. Here it is kept for 4 days. Will it not get spoiled. Please explain. I am eagerly waiting to try bread at home
Thanx
Sudha
Hi Sudha,
I know, it seems kind of strange to leave flour and water out for days like that, but traditional homemade yeast is made by mixing flour and water and capturing natural yeast from the air. This natural yeast ferments the flour and water (kind of like the natural fermentation process of making sauerkraut), and the good bacteria it produces actually protects the flour and water mixture from spoiling. This natural yeast is also called sourdough. There’s a lot of great information about sourdough on the internet, so I’d recommend googling “sourdough yeast” if you’re interested in learning more. Another good source of information is the book I mentioned called “The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread.”
I hope that helps!
Lori
You give great advice! I just want to correct some terminology. In your headline and throughout this post, you refer to “traditional homemade yeast” when what you’re talking about is starter, aka sourdough starter. The starter is the leavening or levain for your bread. It is powered by yeast, a microorganism that is ever present in the environment and air. And of course there are countless strains of yeast.
Yes, that’s true that I’m talking about the sourdough starter, and I realize that the terminology for things like this can be a bit confusing, especially since sourdough starter and yeast are sometimes used interchangeably. And there also might be some people who are looking for ways to make homemade yeast who aren’t familiar with the term sourdough starter yet, so they might be thinking in terms of “yeast” rather than “starter.” I appreciate your sharing your clarification on the terminology 🙂
Could this yeast be used in pizza dough recipes I love making fresh pizzas but yeast is getting so expensive here
Yes, I think it could. You would probably need to find a pizza dough recipe that is specifically designed for homemade sourdough yeast. If you tried to substitute homemade yeast for regular store bought baker’s yeast in a recipe, it wouldn’t work, but any recipe made for sourdough yeast should work well.
Is there any other bread recipes you use? I’d like to make white sandwich bread with my fresh yeast but I’m having trouble finding recipes that use fresh yeast! Can I use my same recipes that call for active dry and substitute? I’m just not sure how the ratio would be. Thanks! 🙂
I might be a good idea to try a recipe that’s designed for using fresh, homemade yeast for your first time using it. Since this homemade yeast is essentially sourdough yeast, any recipe for sourdough bread should work. If you want to substitute homemade yeast for active dry, you could try using about 1/2 cup of the homemade yeast in place of the active dry. You might need to adjust the amount of liquid in the recipe a bit because of the extra liquid in the yeast. Your rising times would also be different since homemade yeast has a much slower rising time than active dry yeast would. Most bread recipes made with homemade yeast (sourdough starter) call for at least about a 12 hour rising time, sometimes more and sometimes less depending on the individual recipe.
The recipe I usually use is: 3 cups flour, 1 cup warm water, 1 tsp salt, 2 Tbs brown sugar, 1/2 cup homemade yeast. I mix all ingredients together and knead them well (the dough is wetter and stickier than regular bread dough, so this step can be a bit messy.) Then I put the dough into a greased bread pan, cover it, and let it rise until it has nearly doubled in size and is fluffy. In the warm weather, this usually only takes about 12 hours, but in the winter time it usually takes longer. Then once the bread has fully risen, I bake it for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
This is my favorite recipe because it is pretty simple, and it only requires one time of kneading and rising. I usually prepare my dough in the late afternoon or evening (afternoon in the summer and evening in the winter), and then I let the bread rise overnight and bake it the next morning.
When you let the bread rise 12-18 hours, you also leave this out on the counter? And do you cover it?
Yes, I leave it out on the counter, and I cover it. It might dry out otherwise.
Looking through old Mother Earth News, letters section. Woman shared memory of childhood, 1812. Mashed potatoes – shaped into roll (log) about the size of silver dollar. Sliced and DRIED. (Minimal refrigeration needed for long time). One cake is yeast starter for next batch.
I thought this might be of interest to you, when I read that you just scrape off the dry part.
The woman did not know how the original yeast was introduced and that lack of information is what lead my search to your site.
Your are an impressive person. Thank you for sharing your interests.
love it lori buetiful your website made me get breakfast done 4 my mom!!!!lol
bye
Sounds cool! Going to try it out. I was wondering how you can determine if there is mold growing on it?
From everything I’ve read, it’s actually really unlikely that you’ll see mold growing on a traditional sourdough starter since the good bacterial produced by the fermentation process of the starter inhibits the growth of bad bacterial and mold. That’s also why real sourdough bread tends to just get dry and stale rather than growing mold. I’ve found that when I leave my starter for a while without using it or remembering to feed it, rather than growing mold, the top of it hardens and dries out. I simple spooned out the hardened part at the top and the rest of the starter underneath was perfectly fine.
Watch one of the many videos on UTube regarding baking a “No Knead” bread. It’s a method of making a bread dough by just adding about 1/8 a tsp of yeast to a dough, mixing in salt and water and just letting the dough sit and ferment for about 19 hours. As a result you get one of the best tasting breads a home baker can yield. I have actually made this bread without any addition of yeast but allowed the dough to sit for 24 hours.
Bread Alone is a Bread Baking Book written by an author from upstate NY. He goes into much detail regarding sour doughs and also Polishes. In his books he talks about how there is natural yeast in the air alone.
I’ll have to check that out – thanks so much for sharing!
I am gluten intolerant (or at least modern wheat intolerance — it is challenging to test) and I would love to make my own bread the old fashion way. Have you experimented with a gluten free traditional starter? Is there a type of substitute flour you recommend? I am willing to experiment and will also try using organic spelt and einkorn (if I feel sick my friends will enjoy the treat).
I’ve never actually tried a gluten free starter myself, but I just saw this post the other day (http://wholenewmom.com/recipes/gluten-free-sourdough-starter/) about how to make one, so hopefully that might help!
So, you can continue to feed and grow the remainder yeast for a long time? A year…forever?
Yes, you can! As long as your starter remains active, you can continue using it and feeding it for as long as you want. If you go too long without feeding it, it might “die” and then you might have to just throw it out and start over, but otherwise you can keep using it indefinitely.
This is exciting, I can hardly wait to get started! Thanks for taking the time to post it! Is it possible to share the bread recipe you use?
Awesome, Shantel! I hope it works out well for you!
This is the bread recipe I usually use (it’s adapted from one I found in an old cookbook):
3 cups flour (I usually use half einkorn flour and half spelt flour, but regular flour will work fine too)
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
1 spoonful of molasses or brown sugar
All I do is mix the ingredients together until they are well incorporated, then I knead the dough for a couple of minutes and place the dough in a greased bread pan to rise. I cover it and let it sit overnight to rise. In the summer time, it usually rises for me in about 12 hours, but in the winter time it usually takes more like 18 hours. Once the bread has risen and is light and fluffy, I bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
This is my favorite recipe to use because it’s so simple and you only have to knead it once when you’re putting together the dough 🙂
Can recipe be used in a breadmaker?
No, I don’t think that would work because homemade yeast needs a long time to rise and most bread machines only have a rise time for a couple of hours. If you have a bread machine that has a long rise setting, or if you have a setting for sourdough bread, then that might work, but otherwise it probably wouldn’t. Most recipes using homemade yeast need at least 8 hours to rise, but usually it’s more like 12-18 hours, depending on the recipe.
Thank you for this important information!
I have seen on a TV show about how the women of Kentucky had been using a bowl of mixed flours, sugar or honey, and water to make home made yeast for the baking and brewing. The woman who talked the most about it said that all it needed was the yeast from our bodies floating in the air and a warm place to slowly grow. It didn’t quite make sense to me at the time. Now I get it thank you.
So many of us would like to learn more than just go buy whatever version is on sale. To be able to make our own QUALITY goods is a treasure.
So I didn’t “feed” my starter properly. I made bread today (day 6) and I had flat bread. 🙁 Perhaps I will remember to feed it properly this time.
It can be really hard to remember too feed starters. I forget about mine all the time! I’m trying to work on setting a schedule for myself so that I remember to feed it. One thing you can try if you’re not sure if your starter has been fed enough is to add a little bit more than what the recipe calls for when you’re making bread. The other day, I wanted to make a loaf of bread, but I hadn’t fed my starter in a few days, so I was afraid it might not be active enough. The recipe I usually use calls for 1/2 cup of starter, so I put in 3/4 of a cup instead to give it a little extra rising “boost” and it worked!
My experience with making bread is that too much yeast is fine, but too little doesn’t work. I once tried doubling and then tripling the amount of yeast to see what happened. It rose a little more/had more air pockets inside, but didn’t make a lot of difference. So, if you are unsure about your yeast, always use more (and note that Lori used 50% more when she was unsure of the quality).
Yes, too much is definitely better than too little!
Put beside coffee pot. If you are a coffee drinker you will get in the habit to add to starter and make coffee.☕
That’s a great idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂
just curious. am i supposed to use all the yeast, or i can use half and continue feeding it for future use?
I usually just use some of the yeast and then continue feeding it for future use. Most recipes I’ve come across tend to use about 1/2 cup of yeast, so I usually just take out half a cup and then feed the rest to use for the next time I bake something.
Mine worked ! How much yeast do I add to 4 cups of flour when I make bread ?
Awesome! So glad it worked for you! I usually add 1/2 a cup for 3 cups of flour, so for 4 cups of flour, I’d probably use about 3/4 cup of yeast. You might need slightly more or less depending on how active your yeast is, the time of year, temperature in your house, etc.
Great !! Thank you for your guidance. I’ll try it this weekend.
I lived in San Francisco and a bread company there has been using it’s original starter since the 1800’s. I miss that bread. Utah yeast can’t compare.
Wow, that’s really neat that they have an original starter! I’m sure that bread must taste amazing!
Hi, first of all thank you for sharing this, I started two days ago and the volume of the mixture easily doubled, it’s coming through the cheesecloth as I type. Does it mean I should feed less ? Or that I can already use it ? I started with about half a cup of water and flour, then added another half cup of each. Thank you
Hi Gabriel,
It sound like your yeast is very active! I’ve found that my yeast is always more active during the summer months when it’s warmer in my kitchen. If it’s warm where you live, that’s probably why your yeast rose so quickly. I can’t say for sure without actually seeing it, but it sounds like your yeast should definitely be ready to use. You also might want to feed it a bit less or a bit less often if you find that it’s always growing so quickly like that. Once the weather cools down some, you may find that the growth slows down too. Good luck with your yeast!
HI i saw your question , although old I thought I would answer any way.I have been using sour dough for sometime now and it s very easy to deal with.
You started it well and have it working so that is the hard part. I use a simple mason jar and punch three or four holes in the lid. I have two them and keep one clean do I can transfer the sour dough once in awhile other wise the jar can get messy.
Now you need to keep it going and ready for when you need it.
I keep mine in the refrigerator feeding it a bit every so often based on what I see for activity.
If I leave it too long of course it produces “Hooch” or alcohol floating on the top. Just pour that off and add some more flour and water. Room temperature water from a kettle that was used for tea or what ever is perfect. I also use vegetable saved water rich in sugars and vitamins.
When I want to use it I pour out what I need into a mixing bowl, add a cup of flour, a pinch of brown sugar and some vegetable water we save from cooking potatoes and carrots. I let that stand over night in a warm place covered with a damp tea towel.
By morning the wee beasties are up and raring to go.
HI LORI, I JUST HAPPEN TO COME ACROSS YOUR HERITAGE HEALTH PAGE. I LOVE MAKING THE STARTER. IM ONE OF THOSE CONQUERING BREAD STARTERS FANS. I VE TRIED A FEW, HOWEVER YOUR RECIPE BUBBLED FASTER FOR ME. THERES ONE THING THAT PUZZELS ME. I NEVER SEEM TO GET IT WHERE ITS DOUBLED IN SIZE OR OVER FLOWING. IF I LEAVE IT ON THE COUNTER DO I FEED IT FOREVER THE REST OF MY LIFE? I GET THE PART OF STORING IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR. TAKE IT OUT 24 HOURS BEFOR USING IT AND FEED IT. S O S THANK YOU AND GODS BLESSINGS, diane
Hi Diane, Mine doesn’t always double in size either. That usually only happens in the summertime for me when the weather is really warm. As long as you see bubbles, it should still be fine even if it doesn’t double in size. You do need to keep feeding it in order for it to stay alive if you want to leave it out on the counter. If you go for more than a few days without feeding it, it will eventually die. I usually feed mine about every other day (sometimes every three days during the winter time when it’s really cold out) Good luck with your starter! 🙂
This has me so excited. I’m going to make pitas soon and I’m curious about wether this yeast would be great in them. Also how much of this mixture would substitute for 1 package of store bought yeast?
And if I am going to experiment with making a cake with this would I just leave out baking powder? And how much of this mix would I use in a cake?
I’ve never had any experience with making pitas before, so I don’t really know how this yeast would work with them, but in general I usually use about 1/2 cup of homemade yeast for 1 package of store bought yeast. So, if you had a pita recipe that called for 1 packet of store bought yeast, you could try using 1/2 cup of homemade yeast instead. You might need to reduce the liquid amount in the recipe a bit, though, to make up for it.
And as far as cakes go, it can be a bit hit or miss, so it’s definitely easier to use a cake recipe designed for sourdough yeast rather than trying to convert one, but if you don’t mind experimenting then it’s possible (just not a guarantee that it will turn out ok). The thing with cakes, though, is that the sugar content in them can keep the yeast from rising as much, so you might want to try mixing together the flour, about 1/2 cup of the homemade yeast, and some water the night before you’re planning on baking the cake to give the yeast some time to rise. And then the next morning add in your sugar and eggs and whatever other spices or flavorings your recipe calls for. And, yes, I’d probably leave out the baking powder, too.