TIL: "There is no need to dissolve the yeast in warm water or feed it sugar. 'Proofing' the yeast was probably required decades ago, but I've never had yeast that didn't activate. The yeast feeds on the flour so you don't need to put in sugar. The proofing step that you see in many recipes is really an old wives tale at this point."
Don't listen to it, it's bad advice. You should always proof your yeast because most people are not baking every day. People will get yeast out of the cupboard that has been there for a few weeks or months and it will be dead. If you proof your yeast, you will find out immediately and can go to the store to buy some fresh. If you don't proof it then you will find out hours later and waste time and flour. This is especially a problem for active dry yeast which has a relatively short lifespan, but even instant yeast will die eventually.
If you are in a restaurant kitchen or you know your yeast is good because you bought it recently then yes you don't need to proof your yeast.
Yeah, those are the kind of people who need to proof the yeast. What is it doing in the cupboard?
Proofing can't hurt and is good advise, but at some point you learn you can get away without.
I haven't bothered to proof yeast in a decade. I'm no pro, but we do make all of our pizza, bread, buns, rolls, pretzels, etc.
I buy big compressed blocks and store them in the freezer. When one is opened, some goes in a small jar in the refrigerator and the rest in a large jar in the freezer.
I've had yeast stop working after a few months unrefrigerated, but refrigerated it seems to last for years, at least, that's my perception.
I'd only advise somebody to bother to proof if they know the yeast I'm using is older than a few months opened unrefrigerated, but I habitually check it anyway.
Yes if you are an enthusiast and you have experience working with a given yeast, then you can skip the proofing step based on your own judgement.
But if any home cook simply reads "you don't need to proof yeast" and interprets it as another one of those cooking myths like 'sealing' a steak, they are likely to make a catastrophic mistake one day.
From my understanding, activating active dry yeast also makes it equivalent to fresh yeast - useful when the recipe you're using calls for the latter. Otherwise you'd need to tweak the proof times in the recipe to account for the yeast dormancy.
Why? Your yeast still gets tested for the purpose so I don’t see how this applies. Especially if the end risk is that you go to the store and buy yeast which has a higher risk of working than stockpiled yeast.
