Conquering My Fear of Yeast…

By Jordan Madden

Time after time I find myself exiting out of recipes at the very mention of one word… Yeast.

As a female, my relationship with yeast is complicated. I’ll save the full story for a different blog post.

The thought of introducing a living organism into my sweet, innocent baked goods sounds horrifying. And even more so when the recipes mention that if you aren’t careful, you can kill the yeast?! Instantly, I’m consumed with thoughts of becoming a murderer in my own kitchen. Covered in flour instead of blood spatters, with a measuring cup filled with too hot milk.

Watching friends delve freely into the world of sourdough bread, pretzels, doughnuts, and bagels – I became jealous.

My fear of yeast has held me back for too long and I’m ready to finally face those fears.

So, I mustered up the courage, marched myself into the grocery store, and grabbed a 3-pack of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast. If I’m going to conquer yeast, I’m going to give myself more than one opportunity to get it right!

On a mission to make my first ever bread, I found a simple recipe for brioche, pulled back my hair and ripped into the first packet of yeast.

My oven had already been hot from a previous bake, so I decided I might have better luck using residual heat instead of microwaving my new yeast friends into oblivion.

I measured out a cup of milk into a Pyrex measuring cup and stuck it into the oven without turning it on… because I am still afraid, after all.

I set a timer for five-minute increments and tested the milk until it felt to be the temperature of lukewarm bathwater.

This took me nearly half an hour. Maybe using residual heat while constantly opening my oven wasn’t the smartest plan, but it still felt the safest.

After I finally had the milk heated up enough for a baby, I dumped the packet of yeast in, set a timer for five minutes and waited for it to bubble.

My heart was racing.

And after the five-minute timer rang, guess what happened?!

Nothing.

Maybe a couple bubbles, but definitely not enough of a change to convince me my yeast was alive.

Feeling defeated, I rolled my eyes, walked away and went to start a load of laundry. I was ready to give up for today, but not ready yet to clean up the carnage.

Then something remarkable happened…

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw bubbling!

I ran back to the milk/yeast mixture and it was doing exactly what it was supposed to do. It looked perfect! I immediately jumped back into this brioche dough recipe.

After proofing and resting and proofing again then baking, I finally had bread!

Was it the best bread of my life? No.

But I was so excited to have finally faced my fear of yeast and baked something that had been patiently waiting on my bucket list.

Next bread recipe, I’ll have the confidence to be bolder and actually heat up the milk intentionally. But having tip-toed into it, I’m glad it was a success, and I’m glad to say that I finally faced my fear of yeast.

The lesson learned here?

There’s no point in being afraid of something that may or may not be alive (I’m still unclear on that).

There’s no point in being afraid to bake. Things will inevitably go wrong, but sometimes everything just might fall into place.

So keep baking, keep being brave, and keep tackling that bucket list.

Yeast isn’t so scary… as long as it stays in the kitchen.