LeSaffre Saf-Instant Yeast, Gold, 1 Pound

Quick tip that took me a while to figure out: the difference between Saf gold and red is actually about sugar content in your dough. Red is for lean doughs with little to no sugar. Gold is specifically formulated for high sugar doughs and enriched breads. If you're making brioche, cinnamon rolls, milk bread, or anything with a lot of sugar and butter, use gold. The sugar tolerance means the yeast won't die off in sweet doughs like regular yeast can. I learned this the hard way after wondering why my enriched doughs weren't rising well with the red label. Switched to gold and the difference was immediate. Consistent rise every time, dough doubles in size in about an hour depending on room temperature. The fermentation duration is predictable which makes timing your bakes so much easier. The taste difference matters too. Properly fermented sweet dough has a depth to it that you don't get when your yeast is struggling against all that sugar. You can actually tell in the final bread. The one pound bag is a lot of yeast. Seems like a big size but it's the right call. I keep it sealed in the freezer and scoop out what I need. Shelf life stored this way is easily a year or more and it stays just as active as day one. Way more cost effective than buying those little packets from the grocery store. Saf is a trusted brand used by professional bakeries so the quality is there.

My mom had a bun recipe she made when we were kids. As adults all my siblings and I have been trying to recreate them but can never get them to rise. I used this yeast instead of the usual stuff I used and they raised so fast! I shared some with my brother and he had great success too. Will be buying this from now on. Also you get a ton for the price! Can't go wrong! Wish I had found this decades ago!

Use it to make bread and bun. Good yeast and make my bread perfect

This is great!

The yeast works well and does exactly what it’s supposed to do. However, I don’t really notice much difference compared to other yeast I’ve tried. The package is a little bigger, but it’s also a bit more expensive. Overall, it’s a good product, just not noticeably better than other options I’ve used. I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Two issues close to any baker's heart: quality and cost. The quality of this yeast is really excellent; of the various yeasts I've used, I like this one the best. It imparts a light, slightly sweet taste to the breads and pastries we make that adds delightfully to their flavor profile. This is, essentially, a pastry-type yeast but it has worked very well with everything we've used it in, from pastries to solid, hearty breads. Yeast like Fleischmann's is .. well ... yeast and I'm not disparaging it but this yeast has a different and very delightful character that has caused us to switch to it exclusively. We first purchased this yeast in 2020; at the beginning of the COVID epidemic, yeast was sold out at all our supermarkets; you could rarely find it anywhere, locally, and when you could it was around $3 for a .25oz packet. Even now, Fleischmann's activated yeast is about $6 for a 4oz jar. By contrast, this yeast was $10/POUND. It holds up very well over time if kept refrigerated. As I said, we purchased the 1lb. package of this yeast for the first time in 2020; we are only running out now and have ordered another pound. During the entire 4 years we've used it it has performed perfectly with no degradation in its flavor or performance. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Update: after almost 3 months the yeast is still performing well on my 100% whole wheat bread. I switched flours about 4 loaves ago, and discovered I needed to cut back the yeast from 1-1/2 tsp to just 1. I'm at 5000' altitude so maybe that's it. I put about half in the freezer and the rest in a glass jar in the fridge; it's still working great. I think this is a great value. This yeast worked great. I'm using it for a 100% whole wheat honey bread I've made in my bread machine for many years, but now, of course, I can't get yeast in the store. I read in the description that this yeast is for sweet breads. That gave me pause. My bread is 1/4 cup honey to 3-1/2 cups flour -- I wasn't sure that was sweet bread, although I think it meets the criterion specified in the description (5% sugar.) I was thinking more like banana bread, but I don't know. I'm not much of a baker... obviously. So. Anyway, I proofed the yeast with 1/2 cp water and a little honey and it blew up almost immediately, so I threw it in the bread machine with my flour, water and honey (and an egg and some salt) and it made a great loaf. Hope this helps. Update: after 7 loaves, I'm very happy with this yeast. After the first loaf I stopped proofing -- I just toss it into the bread machine with the other ingredients. Works great every time.

I can't leave a high enough rating for this product. The original bag, purchased SEVEN years ago is presently in a sealed, plastic container in my freezer. I mixed up some homemade bread dough this morning and used this yeast - it is rising vigorously as I write this. The yeast has survived a power outage, where it returned to room temperature for a couple of days and then went back into the freezer, then a move to another city, packed in a box. It still proofs, beautifully. Frankly, I'd rather purchase this brand in smaller packages, as I don't bake nearly as often as I used to. I haven't ever found it in lesser amounts, so I will purchase another 1 lb. bag, when and if needed. There seems to be no necessity for doing so, presently. I'd rate LeSafre Saf-Instant Yeast at 10 stars, if I could - don't hesitate to order and store it in the freezer - you won't be disappointed...