I bought a pound of yeast today. I don’t quite need it yet but I was stocking up today. I also bought 50 pounds of flour - King Arthur Sir Galahad which is all purpose.

Excellent news! Put your spare jar in the freezer. :)

Oh, I will be be putting some in the freezer, plllog. I prefer making my own bread and was caught short, but don't plan on that happening again.

Agmss15, I've got a good supply of flour and will keep adding to it. I live on the very top of one of the tallest hills in my area. I like to be prepared and not need to go out if there is snow or ice on the ground.

Madonna

I checked my "stash" yesterday and thankfully still have plenty.

I just bought some about a month ago, and stashed it in the freezer, "just in case". Like Madonna, sometimes it's tricky to get out in the winter here, if there's a storm my road doesn't get plowed for two or three days sometimes. I still have bread flour, but I probably should stock up on some AP. I also have lots of wheat berries, so I can grind wheat for flour.

It always seems strange to be talking about winter, when it was just 90F a couple of weeks ago...

Annie

I bought a pound last week and just stuck it in the freezer. I don't need it quite yet but will soon and wanted to buy it while it was available.

Well, y'all have answered my question. You store your yeast in the freezer. All of it or just the "extra"? I have always bought the three pack strip of Fleischmann"s when I needed it and it just stayed in the cabinet. I never kept over two or three strips at a time. Well, this year, that backfired, lol. The oven died at the same time the yeast was hoarded, so that worked out. We used store bought bread and rolls over the summer. I am now the proud owner of lots of strips and a jar!

Do you have to take it out of the freezer before using? Just what you need? I make most yeast breads and rolls, except I buy the sandwich bread hubby likes. I may try a loaf for him, but he is very picky. (Another way of saying set in his ways!)

Like annie, I buy yeast in the pound pack from COSTCO and I store most of it in the freezer again like annie except that I usually end up with one pint canning jar along with the quart. I keep a perhaps 3oz size plastic container with well sealed plastic lid in the fridge. with yeast for the next couple month's use.

The yeast is so light that its temperature is unimportant so direct use from fridge or freezer is fine.

I got a two pound order of Fleischman's yeast from Sam's Club some weeks back. I was not out but got it and put it in my freezer. Two pounds of it for $4.98 delivered to my porch. Free shipping.

Sue

We buy Red Star active dry yeast in the 2 pound pack. We keep it in the refrigerator in the pack until we finish the last pack and then in an airtight plastic container. We use an Oxo Pop 1.5 quart container. The lid has a button to press down to expand a gasket for an airtight fit which makes it very convenient to use.

I'm surprised that Annie and Chas need a quart or more than a quart for a 1 pound container.

It takes us about 6 months to go through a 2 pound pack - we just finished using the 2 pounds we opened in March. My husband bakes challah with it nearly every Friday - first rise in the bread machine and second rise in the oven proof mode for a set time. He's very precise about it and doesn't notice any degradation or change in the yeast performance over that time.

I keep a little jar with about a quarter pound in the fridge, and the 2 lb bags in the heavy foil bags they came in, inside a freezer bag.

As to the temperature for baking, if you're doing a long or retarded (in fridge) rise, it doesn't matter what the temperature of the yeast is. If you're doing an hour rise the yeast should be room temperature or close to it. If it's colder the only issue is that it's going to take awhile longer to rise while the yeast warms up, and if you're used to timing the process, like out of the oven before picking up the kids, it can mess up your day.

You can wake up the yeast in your water from the recipe. Make the water lukewarm, but not warmer, stir in the yeast, and put it someplace slightly warm. I use the cable box. :) The box doesn't feel warm to the touch (that would be too warm) but warm enough to make the yeast happy. A friend uses a thin tumbler and puts it in her tea mug after she's drunk the tea. Just a little warm. If your kitchen is warm, you needn't bother with the somewhere slightly warm. Again, it's just to speed things up.

I have a chamber sealer so I pack yeast into small plastic bags (1/2 cup portions)...it gets stored in the basement pantry.