Bread Machine Yeast vs. Active Dry Yeast

Many at-home bakers are familiar with the ingredient yeast. And while yeast is a commonly used ingredient, not many people realize that there are different types. Determining the type of yeast you'll need for your recipe depends on the recipe's ingredients and cooking method. For example, while some recipes may call for active dry yeast, others require bread machine yeast or fresh yeast to produce the best results. If you're wondering about the difference between bread machine yeast vs. active dry yeast and would like to learn how to use each, keep scrolling properly. In this article, we'll teach you how to use yeast to create delicious bread and baked goods with little effort required.

What Is Yeast?

Yeast is a microorganism that's used in several different ways. To grow, yeast requires food and optimal conditions, including adequate temperature, pH and oxygen levels. When manufactured, all of these levels must be monitored to ensure that yeast grows properly. Baker's yeast is made of a single cell that, when mixed with other baking ingredients, causes several chemical reactions to occur. Yeast cells grow quickly and continue to grow until they're fully mature and ready to separate to create more yeast cells. Used in several recipes, foods like beer, wine and many types of bread wouldn't exist without yeast.

What Is Dry Yeast?

Dry yeast is made of yeast cells that have been dehydrated to extend their shelf life. When rehydrated, the same yeast organisms feed off the sugar and starches found in dough recipes. Through this process, carbon dioxide is produced, a chemical reaction that loans bread its light, fluffy rise and yeasty taste. The method for rehydrating yeast depends on the type of yeast being used. When using dry yeast to create bread, you must follow the recipe's instructions to ensure the best results.

Bread Machine Yeast vs. Active Dry Yeast

Two popular yeast forms are most often used when baking bread recipes: active dry yeast and bread machine yeast. Though they are made from the same ingredient, they react differently. Therefore, knowing when to use each type of yeast is essential for bread making. Continue scrolling to understand the differences between these two yeast types and when to use them.

Active Dry Yeast

Active dry yeast is the most common type of yeast. Used since WWII, it was developed as a way for people to make bread and dough-based recipes without having to carry and maintain fresh yeast. As the name suggests, active dry yeast must be rehydrated before use. This activation process must be done before the yeast is mixed with any of the recipe's dry ingredients. Done by dissolving the yeast granules in warm water, it will begin to foam and grow if the yeast is still alive. This proofing process is vital to ensure that the recipe works properly with active dry yeast. In general, yeast is a fairly unstable product. While some packets may be healthy, others may be dead or damaged. Therefore, proofing active dry yeast before adding it to a recipe will ensure that it properly reacts with the other ingredients and produces desired results.

Bread Machine Yeast

Bread machine yeast, a form of instant yeast, is made through a different manufacturing process than active dry yeast. This process ensures that the yeast is 100% functional and can be mixed directly with the dry ingredients. This is because bread machine yeast features much smaller granules than other yeast types allowing it to dissolve easier when combined with moisture-filled dough—a process that eliminates the proofing step. Bread machine yeast also has a slightly longer shelf-life than active dry yeast making it easy to purchase in bulk. In addition, certain types of bread machine yeast have been coated with a layer of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) which works as a flour buffer. However, not all bread machine yeast contains this coating, and the term is usually synonymous with instant yeast and rapid rise yeast.

When determining the difference between bread machine yeast vs. active dry yeast, the main distinction is that active dry yeast must be proofed using a warm liquid before use, whereas bread machine yeast can be mixed directly into the bread dough. Therefore, while many bread machine recipes call for instant yeast or bread machine yeast, active dry yeast can typically be used as a 1-to-1 replacement.

What Is Yeast's Role in Baked Goods?

From helping bread rise to enhancing flavor, yeast is essential for making a great-tasting baked good.

Yeast Helps Dough Rise

When making homemade bread, there are three essential ingredients: flour, water and yeast. A chemical reaction occurs when these ingredients are combined, causing the yeast and flour enzymes to break down into simple sugars. As the yeast metabolizes these sugars, it releases carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol, creating air bubbles in the dough.

Most gluten-containing doughs build a strong elastic gluten network. As the carbon dioxide is introduced, it becomes trapped within the air bubbles and inflates the dough. Over time more of the tiny air cells fill with carbon dioxide, causing the dough to rise and create leavened bread.

Yeast Makes Bread Dough Stronger

Traditional all-purpose flours contain two proteins, glutenin and gliadin. When combined with water, these proteins stick to the water and each other to form a tacky and elastic molecule known as gluten. As gluten forms, it strengthens the dough and holds in gasses that allow the bread to rise.

Once the flour and water are mixed, most recipes will require you to work the dough further, encouraging more gluten to form. Kneading the dough allows more proteins and water to find each other and form a bond. This process is the same when making pasta. With every fold, turn and roll, the dough becomes more elastic.

Yeast plays a crucial role in developing a healthy gluten network. As it produces carbon dioxide, the yeast releases into an air bubble, causing protein and water molecules to move around. This movement further increases their chances of connecting. Think of dough rising as a form of self-kneading, and notice that when you punch dough down after its first rise, the gluten is much smoother and firmer than before.

Yeast Generates Flavor

Fermentation is an excellent way to generate more flavor in a recipe, and yeast plays a vital role in the fermentation process. In general, molecules like protein, starches and fats aren't very flavorful in their complete form. However, as they're broken down into their building blocks—amino acids, sugars and fatty acids—they hold much more flavor than before. When making bread, yeast helps do just that—it breaks down large molecules like starches into smaller, more flavorful ones.

During the fermentation process, enzymes in the yeast begin to break starch down into sugar. The yeast then uses these sugars and the sugars already present to produce carbon dioxide, alcohol and a handful of flavorful byproducts like amino acids. This pool of enzymes encourages new reactions to form and continues the process of breaking large molecules into smaller ones.

At the end of the fermentation process, the dough is much more acidic than before and contains flavorful organic acids like vinegar and lactic acid. Eventually, the amount of alcohol produced begins to slow the activity of the yeast, leaving you with a great-tasting, leavened bread.

Bread Machine Recipes

Using bread machine yeast is simple. To start, search for a recipe that uses a bread machine and gather the ingredients needed to make it. We've listed a couple of our favorite bread machine recipes below.

Basic French Bread From the Bread Machine

If you're a bread machine beginner, we recommend starting with a simple recipe like this Basic French Bread. Easy to make, this bread can be used for everything from sandwiches to toast and produces a flavor that's hard to beat. Just a handful of ingredients are needed to make this delicious bread. What's more, all of the ingredients can be added to the bread machine at once, making preparation and cleanup so much easier.

Fruit Pecan Bread for the Bread Machine

Bread machine recipes don't have to be bland. For a loaf of bread that's as easy to make as it is to eat, try out this Fruit Pecan Bread. This recipe uses ingredients like Oat Bran Cereal, pecans and orange zest to create a loaf that you'll love snacking on.

Use this guide for bread machine yeast to ensure that all of your bread machine recipes turn out great. From creating a good rise to enhancing flavor, yeast plays a vital role in a properly baked loaf of bread. From everyone at Bob's Red Mill, we wish you all the baking success!