I have been baking for years and am familiar with sourdough starter,cake yeast.active dry and quick rise and rapid rise yeast Now a lot of your recipes call for instant yeast. Would you please explain a little about it and what I can use instead as my local stores do not carry much of a selection. AW Anne, instant yeast is yeast that's been prepared a bit differently than active dry. It's dried at a lower temperature, so more of the yeast cells stay alive. Active dry yeast includes a lot of dead yeast cells, and they surround the live ones; in order to get the live ones going, you need to dissolve the yeast in water ("proof" it) before using. This sloughs away the dead cells. With instant yeast, you don't need to do that. You simply add it, as is, to your recipe along with the other dry ingredients. We prefer SAF instant yeast here in the test kitchen; it's reliable and very reasonably priced, much less expensive than supermarket active dry yeast. (Check it out at bakerscatalogue.com.) You may find the equivalent of instant yeast in your market in a bottle labeled "bread machine yeast" - that's what Red Star (actually owned by SAF) calls its instant yeast. You can certainly use active dry yeast instead of instant; just be sure to dissolve it in water first, and allow for longer rising times. Hope this helps you out. - PJH

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