Yeast Cakes--How to Make Them
Yeast Cake Recipes

1 pint fresh buttermilk
corn meal
1 cake of yeast
1/2 cup of white flour and a little more corn meal

Bring the buttermilk to a boil then remove it from the stove. Stir and add corn meal until quite thick then cool. Soak yeast cake in water warm to the touch. Stir into above and let stand and rise overnight in a draft-free area. In the morning, stir in the white flour and extra cornmeal to make the dough very stiff. Roll out to thickness of store- bought cakes and cut into little squares. Let dry. Use like store bought-yeast cakes.

Old Fashioned Yeast Cakes--My Method

Mix these ingredients together:
1 cup lukewarm water in which Irish Potatoes have been cooked (no salt)
1 package of active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup plain flour

Let stand until mixture is light and fluffy then add enough plain cornmeal to thicken. Cornmeal helps to hold the yeast cakes together.

Shape the mixture 2 tablespoons at the time into little cakes.

Sprinkle clean surface with cornmeal and place cakes on this and allow to dry.

To make bread from your yeast cakes:

Dissolve 2 yeast cakes in 2 cups lukewarm water (100-105 deg. F.)
Add enough plain flour to make a thin batter
Cover and let ferment overnight

The next day, sift plain flour into a large bowl.
Make a well in the flour;
Add the yeast mixture.
Stir in 2 cups lukewarm water (100-105 deg. F.)
1/2 cup sugar,
4 teaspoons salt, and
2/3 cup shortening.

Work in flour until dough is a little stiffer than biscuit dough. Place on floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl and let rise until double.

Punch down; shape into loaves or rolls.
Place in greased pans. Let rise again.

Bake approximately 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Grease top of loaves while hot.

Two of these yeast cakes will make 2 loaves of bread. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator to use as needed.

Dry Cake Yeast

To a quantity of liquid yeast add enough sifted flour to made a thick batter, stir 1 tsp salt and set to rise. When risen stir in sifted and dried cornmeal, enough to form a thick mush; set in warm place and let rise again, knead well and roll out on a board to about one-half inch thick and cut into cakes one and one-half inches square or with a two-inch round cutter; dry slowly and thoroughly in warm oven. Keep in cool, dry place for use. Will keep for six months. To use, dissolve one cake in 1 cup of lukewarm water.

Buttermilk Yeast Cakes

Cornmeal 2 pkgs. dry yeast or 2 tbsp. granulated dry yeast 1 c. flour

Bring the buttermilk or sour milk to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in enough corn meal to make a stiff batter. Cool to lukewarm. Soak the dry yeast in as little water as possible. Stir the soaked yeast into the lukewarm corn meal mixture (it must be only as warm as the inside of your wrist; heat kills the yeast bacteria).

Keep in a warm place 12 hours or overnight. Then add one cup flour and enough corn meal to make it real stiff. Put out on floured board and work as for bread. Make long rolls of it and cut in pieces the size of yeast cakes you buy. Lay out on several thickness of cloth to dry, turning them often. Do not lay in the sun. When very dry, pack in quart jars or other moisture proof containers.

Attention: Often fresh yeast may be obtained at the bakery. 1 tablespoon = one cake or envelope.

Fresh Yeast, also known as compressed or cake yeast, is active yeast. It has good rising qualities, and produces excellent tasting bread. It is sold in cakes, and can be found in the refrigerated section of your supermarket. The down side to this type of yeast is that it does not keep well; it will last about two weeks if refrigerated. The yeast should be soft and crumbly, not hard or crusty. Any mold growing on the surface is an indication that the yeast should be discarded. Fresh yeast should be proofed in tepid water (80 - 90 degrees F). This yeast type is a good choice for breads requiring a long cool rise, or for breads made using the sponge method.

You can substitute one type of yeast for another, keeping in mind the different characteristics of each type. In general, dry yeast can be substituted with any other dry yeast measure per measure. Active dry yeast can be substituted for bread machine yeast, and vice versa. There is of course an exception. SAF brand instant yeast is an exceptionally fast growing strain, and less is needed when substituting this yeast for another type of dry yeast. Use 3/4 teaspoon SAF yeast for every teaspoon active dry yeast called for in the recipe. A (.6 ounce) cake of fresh yeast is equivalent to one package, or 2-1/4 teaspoons, active dry yeast or 2 teaspoons SAF instant yeast.
http://allrecipes.com/advice/coll/all/articles/36P1.asp

One package dry yeast may be used in place of 1 cake of yeast. Dissolve contents of package of dry yeast in 1/4 cup water that feels warm to the touch (110 degrees F), somewhat warmer than the liquid for cake yeast. Then follow any recipe using yeast. 
Cake yeast is perishable and must be kept in the refrigerator. Dry yeast will be kept for several months on the pantry shelf; check package for expiration date.

An informative hops yeast cakes site at:
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/sp79i.htm

How much yeast in an American packet? And what does a yeast cake weigh?
http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/archive_swap19701-19800/19751/3/1/1/1/1.html

Yeast Cakes and Recipes
(old fashioned)

I found this interesting web site at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jdc24/Bread.htm

My Best Bread
I like this technique for a couple reasons: first, it uses an overnight rise that augments the flavor. The difference in taste between an overnight rise and a two-hour rise is like the difference between a pasty tasteless white bread and your grandmother's best cheesecake: there's just no comparison. Second, the interlude between the preparation of the dough and the actual baking splits the cleanup workload in half, so (perhaps just by an illusion) it seems to take considerably less effort than any other method that I've tried.

This isn't so much about a particular type of bread (and it's a far stretch away from being a recipe); it is rather about the process of bread making. The quantity of ingredients tend to "work themselves out" as the method unfolds — since bread making is about the right stickiness and "doughiness" you end up gradually adding sufficient flour to make everything copasetic. The actual variety of bread you bake depends upon what you add along the way (the list to "choose your bread" is a bit further down) but the basic method stays the same.

The Hardware
A coffee mug
A microwave oven
A kitchen thermometer
Two plastic bowls, one larger than the other (I use empty Cool Whip containers)
A large glass mixing bowl
An easy to clean hard flat surface (for kneading)
Plastic bags with handles (from the weekly supermarket grocery trip)
A large hand towel
A refrigerator
A bread loaf baking pan
A regular oven

Permanent Ingredients
Always keep the following ingredients in stock:
Flour; Salt; Sugar; Dry nonfat milk; Yeast Cakes; Safflower or Corn or Canola oil
Cornmeal (if making your own Yeast Cakes)

I make my own Yeast Cakes, here's how:
Start this process in the evening when you are going to bed; it takes about 15 minutes. Take a plastic bowl (one that has a lid that fits — I use an empty Cool Whip container) and put in a half cup of Cornmeal, a heaping Tbl of flour, and a heaping tsp of dry yeast (half a package); stir the dry ingredients. Take a coffee mug and fill it half way with dry milk and then half way with cold water; stir (in other words you end up with half a coffee mug of cold milk). Place in the microwave and heat until the milk bubbles up to the top of the mug (in mine this takes a minute and a half). Remove from the microwave and stir in 2 Tbls of butter. After the butter melts stir in a couple of ice cubes. Take the milk's temperature — it should be 90F or less. Add the warm milk to the dry ingredients and stir — the mixture will be very runny and soupy. Now add more cornmeal gradually while continuing to stir until the mixture thickens just enough to start pulling away from the sides. Cover loosely and let stand overnight.

In the morning refrigerate the yeast cakes. This recipe makes 6 yeast cakes; the next day take a knife and slice the mixture in an asterisk pattern to make six wedges. The yeast cakes will keep in the refrigerator for a week; after that it is best to freeze them — they keep for a couple of months in the freezer.

To read the recipe and the how-to info, go to the link at the top of this page.

Coffee Cakes (Brioche)

1 cup scalded milk
¹/₂ cup sugar
4 yolks of eggs
2 yeast cakes
3 eggs
¹/₂ teaspoon extract lemon or
²/₃ cup butter
2 pounded cardamon seeds
4-²/₃ cups flour

French Confectioner

Cool milk; when lukewarm, add yeast cakes, and when they are dissolved add remaining ingredients, and beat thoroughly with hand ten minutes; let rise six hours. Keep in ice-box over night; in morning turn on floured board, roll in long rectangular piece one-fourth inch thick; spread with softened butter, fold from sides toward centre to make three layers. Cut off pieces three-fourths inch wide; cover and let rise. Take each piece separately in hands and twist from ends in opposite directions, coil and bring ends together at top of cake. Let rise in pans and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven; cool and brush over with confectioners’ sugar, moistened with boiling water to spread, and flavored with vanilla.

German Coffee Bread

Finnish Bread

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups hot water
2 1/2 cups regular oats
1 1/2 teaspoon Iodine free salt or canning salt
2 yeast cakes
1/2 cup warm water (100-105 deg. F.)
4 to 6 cups flour

Directions:
Mix hot water, oats and salt in a large bowl.
Cool to lukewarm.
Dissolve yeast cakes in 1/2 cup warm water.
Add 2 cups flour to oatmeal mixture and mix well.
Add yeast mixture, mix well.
Add about 4 more cups flour, 1 cup at a time to form a stiff dough.
Cover and let rise until double. (Cover with damp cotton dish towel and put in a warm place.)
Knead well and divide into two loaves.
Place in oiled loaf pans.
Time to preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cover dough again and put in a warm place and let rise until double.
Bake until bread tests done, about 1 hour.
Remove from pan and cool on rack.

GERMAN YEAST BREAD

4 c. milk
1/3 c. warm water
2 tbsp. sugar
3 yeast cakes
6 c. sifted unbleached flour
6 eggs
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/4 stick butter
3 tbsp. solid vegetable shortening
1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
1 c. raisins
1 tbsp. salt
10 c. sifted unbleached flour

Grease four 9 x 5-inch glass loaf pans and two 7 x 3-inch loaf pans. Grease large bowl and set aside. Scald milk. Transfer to large bowl and cool to 105 degrees. Combine water and sugar in small bowl. Add yeast cakes and mash until dissolved; add to cool milk. Stir in 6 cups of flour and beat until smooth; use wooden spoon. Cover bowl with dry cloth and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume.

Beat eggs in large bowl to blend. Measure 2 tablespoons eggs and set aside. Mix sugar into remaining eggs. Melt butter and shortening in small saucepan over low heat. Stir in salt and lemon peel. Add butter mixture and egg mixture to dough and stir well. Add 9 cups flour and mix well. Sprinkle work surface with some flour. Knead dough about 15 minutes, dusting with flour if necessary. Transfer dough to greased bowl, turning to coat entire surface. Cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Punch dough down and transfer to floured surface. Divide in parts. Roll dough pieces up loosely, and arrange seam side down in prepared pans. Cover each loaf with dry cloth and let rise in warm area for 15-20 minutes.

Combine reserved egg and 1 tablespoon water in bowl. Brush top of each loaf with mixture. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking until loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom about 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pans. Remove loaves from pans and transfer to rack. Cool completely before slicing.

KOLACHKI #1
 by St. Mary's Ladies Guild," St. Mary's Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church, Endicott, NY, 1984, p. 264.

5 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 small yeast cake
1 lb butter or margarine
4 beaten egg yolks
1/2 can evaporated milk or enough to make a soft dough

Sift flour and salt into large bowl. Crumble yeast into flour and work with fingers until very fine. Add butter and egg yolks and mix until well blended. Add enough evaporated milk to make a soft dough. Knead well. Divide into 5 equal parts. Cover and chill overnight. Roll out on powdered sugar. Cut into squares and use favorite filling. Bake at 350^oF for 15-20 minutes.

KOLACHKI #2

6 1/2-8 cups flour, preferably 8
1 lb lard, butter, or oleo (lard is best)
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
2 regular (small) yeast cakes or 3/4 of a large cake
3 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pint heavy cream

Nut Filling

1 lb nut meats well ground
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Authentic Hungarian
Kipfels
 

Some authors of recipes are unknown-found on various web sites

Email:  pioneerwoman1@yahoo.com