Empty grocery shelf gives rise to a revelation ... about yeast

When the coronavirus pandemic struck America, and we all retreated to the sanctuary of our homes and practiced social distancing, it seems that a lot of people took up home baking. I've been a baker for a long time, really since I got my first apartment in my sophomore year at the University of Minnesota. That would be in 1972.

I grew up eating homemade bread, so it was natural for me to try my hand at it when I was on my own. I'm sure that my mom gave me bread for the apartment when I'd go home for a visit. But I also started baking some on my own. I liked it. My roommate liked it. And probably more significantly, my girlfriend (now my wife) was impressed.

After college, and when we got married, I continued to make bread for our home. It became a ritual and something of a family tradition. I used to make bagels very often. But since our kids are grown and it's just the two of us, I haven't made bagels in quite a while. I have a handful of recipes that I turn to regularly. But definitely the kind of bread I make the most is challah, almost every Friday when we have a big family dinner with all of the grandchildren.

When the 'stay-at-home' order was issued in Minnesota, to minimize the chance of spreading the coronavirus, my pantry was already well stocked. So I didn't pay too much attention when we saw in the news that many staples and baking supplies were suddenly being snatched from the grocery shelves faster than the stores could restock. But as the pandemic lingered on and we continued to 'shelter at home,' I started running low on some of my supplies. So I asked my wife to try to find some yeast during her regular grocery run.

Finally it got to the point where I didn't have enough yeast left for my weekly batch of challah. When my wife came home from the store, with the news that there still wasn't any yeast on the shelf, it seemed like I was just out of luck.

However, I had read an article online that some people were discovering that their local, independent grocery stores still had products available. You can read the report from CNN (click here) to see why and it seems that it's more prevalent in rural communities. But we have a family-run store (Driskill's Downtown Market) nearby in Hopkins, MN. I gave them a call. Sure enough, they had some yeast available.

When I got to the store, I found out that they didn't have any packets of active dry yeast. Nor did they have 4-ounce bottles of yeast like I usually get. Nor did they have blocks of compressed yeast. (I used to use compressed yeast for challah and bagels for many years until I switched to active dry yeast.) What they did have was a one-pound vacuum-packed brick of instant yeast. I'd never used instant yeast before. But I didn't have much choice. So I bought it and brought it home.

After doing some investigation online. I was reassured that it would work just fine.

• This article on Epicurious does a great job of explaining the difference between active dry and instant yeast and how to substitute one for the other. (Click here.) 
• This article on the King Arthur Flour web site also explains the differences and has photos to show how each type of yeast performs under similar circumstances. (Click here.) 
• My main bread cookbook is Beard on Bread, by James Beard. He was not a fan of instant yeast, and he recommended only using active dry. (The book was first published in 1973. It's still available new in hard cover. I'm quite surprised to see the price on Amazon is $70 new, $45 used, but $12.99 on Kindle.) 
• I also have The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Barenbaum. She is more of a fan of instant yeast and calls for it in most of her recipes, except of course sourdough. 

Since buying the instant yeast, I've made two batches of bread. Both recipes are from Beard on Bread. 

Challah recipe from Beard on Bread

The first was challah. I follow the recipe pretty much as printed in the cookbook except that I use honey as a sweetener and olive oil for the fat. The bread turned out well, as expected and not noticeably different than when I use active dry yeast. (Since we haven't been having family dinners on Friday, because of social-distancing, I make small loaves the deliver them to our kids' families on Friday afternoon.)

The second batch was Beard's French-Style Bread recipe. In the notes, he draws a distinction between this recipe and an authentic French bread. While made in a baguette like French bread, Beard wrote that his recipe is more of a Continental or Italian bread. I've made it often with several variations. This time I used 1 cup of rye flour and 1 cup of whole wheat and the rest unbleached white flour (about 3 more cups). I also kneaded in a tablespoon of caraway seeds. This batch also turned out well.

So my bottom line is that I would buy instant yeast again in the future. I haven't decided yet if I'm willing to say it's my preferred yeast. But I've got a lot more baking to do before I run out again.

Tooting my own horn ... and a recipe

I quit studying French and Italian. My wife and I were planning a trip to France and Italy for this summer. As of today, we still haven't cancelled our reservations. But it seems highly unlikely that the coronavirus pandemic will subside enough for us to safely embark on that trip. We will still go. Just not this summer. Now I have some extra time on my hands. Hmmm. What to do?

Ever since I retired (in 2013) I've thought about retrieving my trumpet from the basement and start playing again. I did play in the school band all through high school and at college in the University of Minnesota Football Marching Band! After the U, I played in an alumni pep band for a few years. But gradually work and family and other things took over my life, and I quit playing.

Spoiler Alert: If you came to this post looking for the recipe, it's at the end. If you want to skip all the blather about my trumpet, just scroll down for the Nutty Oat Bar recipe.

Playing my trumpet has always been on my list of things to do in retirement. But I've been busy with grandchildren and volunteer work and gardening and cooking and biking, and until now, travel. My grandchildren all take piano lessons (from my wife). I've often thought it would be fun to play some easy trumpet and piano duets with them. Also, one of my grandsons took up the clarinet this year. I thought we could play duets too.

I've been at it now for a week. It's been a little humiliating. Don't get me wrong. I didn't expect to pick it up and be back at the level I was in college. (That was more than 45 years ago.) But I've encountered a couple of physical hurdles.

Me in the Marching Band, 1973

One is my eyes. I was planning to have surgery this spring to have my cataracts removed. As is typical with cataracts, my eyesight deteriorated gradually and as it did, I was able to adapt. But that didn't include reading music, and much to my surprise, I'm finding that I'm having trouble with that. With the music set up on a makeshift stand, it's too far away for me to see clearly. I have trouble distinguishing which notes are on the lines and which are on the spaces. If I try to move closer to the music, it's too close to hold my trumpet.

Cataract surgery is elective. In response to the pandemic, all elective surgeries in Minnesota are banned. So no eye surgery for a while yet. (One more thing, barbershops and hair salons are closed. I haven't had a haircut in 2 months. My hair stylist expects to be able to see clients in May. I have an appointment on the calendar. But by the time I get in to see her, my hair might look like it did when I was in college. See photo. Well, it's gray, but at least I still have hair.)

The other physical hurdle I've encountered is that my lip is completely shot. When I picked up my horn again, I could barely play an entire octave. In the week that I've been practicing, I've regained some of my range. But it's slow progress.

Sort of in jest, I told my wife she should see if I become a better kisser as my embouchure strengthens.  She didn't think it was funny. But I was struck by the similarity of the word embouchure to the French word "embrasser" meaning "to kiss." So I looked it up. It was close. Embouchure is actually derived from the French word "bouche" meaning "mouth."

Now, for those of you who have waited patiently, next is the recipe. I've had this in my file since January of 2015. I got it from the Washington Post, and it's still available there. But in order to see it online you have to have a subscription. So I'm reprinting it below.

I expected it to be like a homemade granola bar. I like how it turned out, but I was a little surprised that it wasn't very sweet. The only sweetener in it is maple syrup. The recipe calls for unsweetened applesauce. I suppose if you wanted it to be sweeter, you could try using sweetened applesauce. Also, my son commented that he thought it could use more of the dried cranberries, and that also would add some more sweetness to the end product.

Nutty Oat Bars
Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post
JAN 28, 2015

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup rolled oats (do not use instant or quick-cooking oats)
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup plain, unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil or safflower oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries, preferably unsweetened
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup finely chopped, skin-on almonds
• 1/2 cup hulled, unsalted sunflower seeds

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking oil spray.

Whisk together the oats, whole-wheat flour, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk together the maple syrup, applesauce, oil and egg in a separate bowl until well incorporated. 

Stir in the oat mixture, then the dried cranberries, walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds until evenly coated.

Spread the mixture in the pan; bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then cut into 12 equal-size bars.