Hi, I learned to bake using fresh yeast (I used an old cookbook), and now that I live in Central Europe, where fresh yeast is the norm, I still use fresh yeast. (When I first came here in the early '90s, you could buy it in shops where it was in the size of a large brick - I mean a real brick like houses are built with - and you told the clerk how much you wanted her to chop off, like buying cheese!) My old cookbook uses fresh yeast as its 'default' yeast, but says that if you want to substitute dry yeast, use one package of dry for one cake of fresh, compressed yeast, proofing the dry in water first. I follow this rule of thumb in reverse, because I remember the size of a cake of Fleischmann's fresh yeast, which is what we always used at home. I find ithat fresh yeast is a lot faster, more lively and more reliable than dry yeast of any kind that I've tried, so I'm puzzled by the preference for dry yeast in pretty much every yeast recipe I read. Yet it's possible for me to buy fresh yeast made by a French firm in my local (French-owned) supermarket. So I guess in France they still use fresh yeast. Why doesn't KA use fresh yeast? Doesn't anyone in the US bake with fresh yeast anymore? What's the story with that? Hi Nel, You are so very lucky to have access to fresh yeast. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find in local stores. Even our well stocked local co-op doesn't carry it. Our production bakery still uses fresh yeasts for the products they make, but for our test kitchens and classrooms, we use instant yeast. Most home bakers can find instant or active dry yeast fairly easily and we want to encourage our fellow bakers rather than frustrate them if they have no local source. So, do go with fresh yeast if you prefer, it will be just fine. P.S. Don't tell the bakers, but sometimes I sneak home a bit of their fresh yeast and bake a loaf or two. Mmmm, mmmm good! ~ MaryJane

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