Avoid Caputo Dry Yeast

[DoouBall]

I had a Caputo Dry Yeast in my kitchen for a few months, always at a moderate room temperature and humidity, unopened with an expiration date of August 2022. Just tried it yesterday and it was 100% dead. Never had this experience with SAF IDY or any other brand of instant yeast. My guess is that this may be due to the lack of ascorbic acid (compared to SAF Red), or the potentially unpredictable environment in which it was transported from Italy.

Either way, I would advise anyone here to avoid this yeast. It doesn't taste any better than SAF Red and it also rises slowly (and sometimes not at all). I see no benefit. Just my 2c.

[Jackitup]

Any yeast should be kept in a glass mason type jar in the fridge or freezer. Yes, this pic is now, 6 years and still quite viable! Take out what you need, immediately reseal, and back for a cold nap. REALLY the only way to go! I buy in bulk, usually a pound at a time. If it starts getting lazy, I don't feel very guilty for tossing it at $5ish/lb if it lasts for 6+ years! Try it, you won't regret it!!!

[02ebz06]

Any yeast should be kept in a glass mason type jar in the fridge or freezer. Yes, this pic is now, 6 years and still quite viable! Take out what you need, immediately reseal, and back for a cold nap. REALLY the only way to go! I buy in bulk, usually a pound at a time. If it starts getting lazy, I don't feel very guilty for tossing it at $5ish/lb if it lasts for 6+ years! Try it, you won't regret it!!!

 +1   Mine stays in the freezer as well, along with dried sourdough starter.  No problems with it over a year old.

[texmex]

My freezer stored yeast is still great after being expired more than a decade!

[loch]

I had a Caputo Dry Yeast in my kitchen for a few months, always at a moderate room temperature and humidity, unopened with an expiration date of August 2022. Just tried it yesterday and it was 100% dead. Never had this experience with SAF IDY or any other brand of instant yeast. My guess is that this may be due to the lack of ascorbic acid (compared to SAF Red), or the potentially unpredictable environment in which it was transported from Italy.

Either way, I would advise anyone here to avoid this yeast. It doesn't taste any better than SAF Red and it also rises slowly (and sometimes not at all). I see no benefit. Just my 2c.

Sometimes the quality of yeast is just lacking from the factory. I had a similar experience last year with Sam's club newest yeast brand Bellarise Instant Dry Yeast. I was used to getting SAF or Fleischmann's from them but they stopped carrying it. The Bellarise had about a year left on the expiration date so I bought it. First use it was a little disappointing with pizza dough and then it was a disaster with bread. I did side by side tests with small amounts of pizza and bread dough and I ended up tossing it. It was a $5 lesson. I never heard from Sam's Club about my complaint so I just ended up buying on line. Generally, Pleasant Hill, Breadtopia and King Arthur can be counted on for good expiration dates, I just hate paying shipping.

Dave

[DoouBall]

Any yeast should be kept in a glass mason type jar in the fridge or freezer. Yes, this pic is now, 6 years and still quite viable! Take out what you need, immediately reseal, and back for a cold nap. REALLY the only way to go! I buy in bulk, usually a pound at a time. If it starts getting lazy, I don't feel very guilty for tossing it at $5ish/lb if it lasts for 6+ years! Try it, you won't regret it!!!

Thanks but that's not really relevant for Caputo IDY because it literally comes in its own airtight jar with practically no air inside. The problem was not with the lack of jar, but the fact that the yeast was already dead before even opening the package. Your method works great for a high quality dry yeast like SAF Red and that's exactly what I do and it lasts forever, just like you said.

[DoouBall]

Sometimes the quality of yeast is just lacking from the factory. I had a similar experience last year with Sam's club newest yeast brand Bellarise Instant Dry Yeast. I was used to getting SAF or Fleischmann's from them but they stopped carrying it. The Bellarise had about a year left on the expiration date so I bought it. First use it was a little disappointing with pizza dough and then it was a disaster with bread. I did side by side tests with small amounts of pizza and bread dough and I ended up tossing it. It was a $5 lesson. I never heard from Sam's Club about my complaint so I just ended up buying on line. Generally, Pleasant Hill, Breadtopia and King Arthur can be counted on for good expiration dates, I just hate paying shipping.

Dave

Makes sense. I’ve had the best results with SAF Red and Gold. These are super consistent and you can buy them in lots of stores and online. I keep mine in the fridge for 1 year and get new ones in Jan. They last much longer than 1 year but this allows me to maintain consistency.

[loch]

Since I mentioned the Bellarise yeast from Sam's Club that was sub-standard, I thought I'd add to this thread by also mentioning that Sam's Club had Fleischmann's yeast last week in a two pack (2 x 16 ounces) for $4.33.

I've found this to be good quality in the past and tested it today making a batch of pitas. Worked just fine. The packages had an expiration date of 3/31/23.

Dave

[Cheazy E]

I have Caputo Lievito yeast in the fridge that I purchased in January 2021 and it’s still going strong. The only strange thing for me is that is says it’s active yeast on the packaging, but it performs like instant.

[DoouBall]

I have Caputo Lievito yeast in the fridge that I purchased in January 2021 and it’s still going strong. The only strange thing for me is that is says it’s active yeast on the packaging, but it performs like instant.

It is instant yeast. They just avoid the term for marketing purposes - instant is like a dirty word with some old school pizza makers who prefer to avoid instant yeast.

That said, I have also had good batches of Caputo yeast like you. But my point is that it’s pretty inconsistent from batch to batch. Your next one could be dead on arrival like mine was. I had this problem with Red Star Active Dry Yeast too but never with SAF Red or Gold.