Activating Yeast for Pizza Dough

You have probably heard recipes call for activating yeast for bread or pizza dough recipes. But what is meant by this term and why should we concern ourselves with this?

Activating yeast is a process to ensure that the yeast is still fresh and active. Yeast is a living organism and needs to be alive to generate the gases we are looking for when baking. The process called proofing is really quite simple, we provide a complete explanation of the process here.

roofing is accomplished by mixing the yeast in a warm liquid. If the yeast is alive and active it will the mixture will begin bubbling and become foamy after 5 to 10 minutes. This is a good sign and indicates that the yeast is working. In fact, it is these gases that give our pizza crust its light and airy texture.

If we do not begin seeing activity then there is a good chance that our yeast is no longer any good. If you are using dry yeast which is preferred by most home bakers, the shelf life is long if left unopened, but once opened it needs to be store away from light, heat, and moisture...your refrigerator is a good place.

Using the correct water temperature is important when activating yeast. To cool and the yeast will not activate, to hot and you can kill the yeast. Follow these directions for best results.

With the quality of yeast this day and age it is said that proofing the yeast is no longer needed. The process does not really add any additional time to the process of making pizza, so I continue to proof our yeast thereby eliminating one variable that could potentially cause me problems.

Articles

Return from Activating Yeast to Making Pizza Dough