No matter how long I’ve kept a jar of yeast, it has never gone bad. Until now. Just two months ago, I wrote about DIY bread mixes; and wrote that ‘yeast keeps well past its sell-by date’. Turns out, that very yeast was going bad as I was writing the post. The bread made and pictured in that post turned out fine. But in the weeks that followed, one of those mixes turned out like the one pictured on the left below. I tried another loaf from the same set of mixes; got the same result. So I tried one more loaf, but added 1/2 teaspoon of yeast from a new jar, and got the result on the right.
The old yeast still has not reached the sell-by date on the jar, and has been stored continuously in the frig, but for some unknown reason it went bad anyway. These things happen, I guess. I stand by my advice to buy and keep a jar of yeast on hand. I’ve baked bread since I was a little girl, and this is the first time I’ve ever had yeast go bad.
The short loaves didn’t go to waste. They sliced and tasted fine, but a bit more dense than a regular loaf.
More desert island music
We are into the final three rounds of the Slice The Life 2020 Album Draft. Round 8 has just begun. For the latest ‘desert island album’ picks, click here.
For the latest Run-Sew-Read pick, click here, and enjoy the sample below.
run | sew | read 
I used cake mix way past the date during the lockdown…it was dense as well. I had no clue nothing would really happen. It tasted just as good though…just a little more solid.
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The cake would have a different leavening agent, and sure it can become less effective with time, but as you found, it’s still tasty. Good job in giving it a try. 🙂
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I’m wary of dates but with that…I thought…as long as it’s sealed it should be fine…and it was!
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I had the same experience with dry yeast. I thought surely once it’s dried, it becomes dormant and therefore never dies, right? Wrong! My loaf didn’t rise at all. It is annoying because our supermarkets still don’t sell any yeast, six months into the pandemic!
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I had no idea you still can’t get yeast. How difficult. I’d send you some if I could, but it would never pass through customs. 😥
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I think yeast cells might have had to self-isolate. It’s just another one of those covidiocies! There’s no shortage of bread or baked goods, but yeast and flour is all but disappeared from the supermarkets. You can still get it from specialised online stores… it’s just bizarre!
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It’s been a couple of weeks since I last checked. Yeast and flour are back in the supermarket! Hail breadmaking!! 😃
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Whew! I’m glad to know it. Flour came back to the shelves fairly quickly here, but in rationed quantities. We were limited to purchasing 5-10 lbs for quite awhile.
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I think what happened here is that in lockdown everyone (including me) dug up their bread makers, so whenever flour turned up in a shop, it was quickly sold out. But things seem to be back to normal finally – and I’ve got yeast and flour on order for my next delivery! 😃
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Yesss!
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