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Is Yeast Raw?

Ok, I definately have a bread problem and I am always searching for good bread recipes that are raw to help with my bread cravings.

My bf (who has been into raw for a long time) says that yeast (the kind that goes into making bread – not nutritional yeast) is raw and it is a living food and that lots of raw restaurants use it to make their breads. This means that I could buy raw yeast and make my own “poufy” raw breads at home!(I would be in heaven!)

I was wondering why I don’t see yeast used in many raw recipes I see online and in books if this is true.

My bf said that Cafe Gratitute uses raw yeast in their breads.

Does anyone know of any of this? Opinions? Experiences? (Recipes?)

Comments

  • Yeast is raw and alive. It has to be in order to create the carbon dioxide that helps make bread rise. (The yeast eat the sugar and then produce CO2). Of course your bread may not be carbon neutral then. joke.

    The only potential problem might be that the yeast may really thrive (and produce C02) at temperatures that may be hotter then 105 or whatever. But I would think a long period in the dehydrator would get some activity out of them.

    Some people take live saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker’s yeast) as a supplement. Others claim it is harmful and not one you want colonizing the small intestines.

    What would your process be for making flour?

  • jenny2052jenny2052 Raw Newbie

    Hmm—the breads in the Cafe Gratitude book don’t use yeast, but maybe the ones in the restaurant do?

    Could one of the obstacles in using yeast in the dehydrator be fermentation? I would think that that could possibly be an issue with the long dehydration times. But maybe not!

    Bread dough rises at just slightly higher than room temperature, so it seems to me that you should be able to get some CO2 action in a dehydrator.

    This is very exciting! Keep us posted on your experiments. I’m in the process of moving at the moment, but I’ll look forward to some experimentation myself once I’m installed in my new house.

  • Oh, I’d love to hear how it works if you try it too! I’m not fully raw, still transitioning, but this would make things even more wonderful!!

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Thanks Avo Cado for the clarification on that!

    This is very interesting. I will have to ask my bf for more details on how he thinks it would work (he is sort of an unofficial fermentation and dehydrator expert). My bf is actually in the beginning stages of designing a new type of dehydrator that will cut dehydrating time in half! So, the idea of making a bread with yeast that would in today’s dehydrators take a loooonggg time will take no time at all. I may be the first one to get to try it!

    I wasn’t planning on using flour actually. I was thinking of maybe grinding grains (sprouted) or oats grouts maybe? Not sure about that part actually. I was thinking of taking a few recipes that alread exist and just modifying them.

    I was just hoping to be be able to produce a bread that isn’t flat and hard but poufy and softer. :)

    I’ll definatley keep you guys updated on any experiements I do. I haven’t started anything yet. I am in the process of finding out how to do it.

    Great to know that yeast really is raw/alive and therefore would be OK for the raw diet.

    Wonder if the active yeast they sell in the baking goods section is the correct kind?

    jenny, yes, my bf said they use it in the breads they serve in their restaurants. I don’t know how he knows this – I will have to ask him.

  • jenny2052jenny2052 Raw Newbie

    QF—yep, the “active” in the baking yeast means its alive.

    Can’t wait to hear about your experiments!

  • newbienewbie Raw Newbie

    for flour ideas, in one of the other threads I read that someone makes flour from dehyrated almond meal (leftover from making almond milk). You grind it to a powder once it’s dry. Definitely worth a try!

  • poemommpoemomm Raw Newbie

    FYI—yeast dies at 140 degrees, which then would stop fermentation.

    Yeast is one of those things you don’t want to technically STAY alive in bread, because it would cause excessive fermentation and spoilage.

    So theoretically, if you didnt’ have a problem killing the yeast (I’m assuming Excalibur dehydrator here) you could dehydrate the bread at 140 to 145 degrees for abotu 3 hours for a loaf or an hour for rolls and then lower the heat and continue to dehydrate for the rest of the time.

    Naomi

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    poemomm,

    Thanks for that clarification! I was just getting around to trying my experiment but after reading your post and another thread about yeast on here, I am wary about whether or not it would be a good idea to eat raw bread with active yeast in it. My guess is no. I mean, since candida seems to be a problem for many people (me included – at least, it has been) ingesting more ACTIVE yeast seem like it would be unhealthy and problematic.

    And it sounds like the bread would not really be raw anymore after doing the 140 which is over the
    “raw’ guidelines.

    I am thinking about using something else to achive the “poufy” bread texture. Maybe still ferment it but another way – perhaps probiotics and let it still out?

    I know how to get the “sour” taste so I just need to work on getting a little pouf in there.

    I might make some “unraw” 140 degree bread to use up the package of bread I have sitting around – not sure what else to do with it?

  • poemommpoemomm Raw Newbie

    Keep in mind, according to the latest information, when you use an Excalibur or similar high quality dehydrator, the raw status of a moist food (like a loaf of bread) is NOT compromised by up to 2-3 hours at 140 degrees, if the temperature is then lowered to the 110-115 degree mark.

    Briefly and most importantly: The temperature draws the moisture from the interior of the item and effectively lowers the ambient temperature by 20-30 degrees.

    It is actually beneficial to use this method with thicker, higher moisture items—it retards spoilage and unbeneficial fermentation and actually promotes enzyme preservation.

    It’s important to remember there’s a difference between the temperature of the FOOD and the temperature of the air in the dehydrator. Lower quality dehydrators do not regulate temerature as well, and may indeed raise the temperature of the FOOD to 140 degrees using this method. However, if you do this with a high quality dehydrator, all you will kill is the yeast, and as I said before, that’s not necessarily a bad thing (candida, etc)...

    Something to think about.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    thanks poemomm,

    I didn’t know that! That is great information! I have a SausageMaker which is a high quality dehydrator so maybe I will try doing the 140 like you suggested first and than lowering the temp.

    My bf is working on designing a new type of dehydrator that will cut dehydrating time in half! I think the raw bread would be a good thing to test that with! :)

  • I agree with you people that raw bread is mostly a dense slab of rawness. What is you made your dough with raw sprouted grains that help remove some of that raw bland flour taste by converting raw starches to sugars, and then dehydrating and grinding that. You then make that into a dough let it rise like normal bread and then form into loaves in a pan or whatever like you would a normal bread and let it bench proof about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way. Place in the freezer which basically should halt the fermentation but not kill the yeast and enzymes. Then simply depan the frozen block and put into the dehydrator and have at it, sure the yeast my kick back into life as it thaws back out but by the time it does most of the moisture should be removed so the yeast wouldnt be doing much fermentation anymore. Just an idea in theory, feel free to toss it around people.

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