Bread making - dried yeast

[Wildman]

I use belbake, usually very good but had a failure this week. I made it with cold water and thought it may have gone straight on top of the salt, which does it no good at all, always put salt at the bottom and any sugar on top, water should only be tepid or it will kill the yeast. Just because one sachet fails does not mean they all will. I use the breadmaker to make the dough, then separate into three equal portions, turn one into a pizza, one into bread rolls, and the remaining third into a lardy cake none of it tends to last very long, hee hee

 

[Droogs]

as dejaa says age does play a part but mostly people have their water too hot. dried yeast is very sensitive to the initial heat of the water and this needs to be kept at around blood temperature within a couple of degrees or a lot of the yeast will be killed off.

 

[Cordy]

Our local Asda supermarket makes fresh bread daily

It's not advertised; but they will actually give fresh yeast to customers
Usually about 3 or 4 ounces wrapped in paper, no charge at the check-out

 

[whiskywill]

Morrisons sell fresh yeast at 50p for 126g. That's enough for around 8 standard loaves. You'll find it near the butter and pastry in the chiller cabinet.