when baking bread in a bread machine should I activate the yeast first?

Question

Hi, I've been experimenting with the machine we got for Christmas and I'm wondering should I activate the yeast first before putting it into the machine or just toss the dry yeast in as per the recipe.  I think I had less problems when I was taking chemistry in school.  My results have been mixed from construction materials to actual bread.  Problem is that I've usually changed more than just one thing at a time to properly isolate the cause of the results in most cases.

Karen L · Accepted Answer

No. Follow the instructions that came with the machine, putting the ingredients in in the right order. It can take a while to get good results from a bread machine if you're playing around with the recipes, and bread machines don't tolerate a lot of changes to recipes. Stick pretty close to the recipes that came with it, and make note of any changes you make to a recipe so you can replicate things that turned out well. I changed the recipe to suit me better, using more seeds and whole wheat flour than called for, and found I had to up the liquid content which is common for whole wheat. Bread dough that's not slack enough doesn't rise well.

Nana Lamb · Answer

NO!! no need!
stack in machine according to fats, liquids, dries, yeast on top.

good site to read about bread machine usage:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com
she is so funny that you will soon read all she has written on this site besides bread machine usage.

if in doubt about the freshness of your yeast, go get some more. It isn't that expensive!

apairofjacks · Answer

if it is instant yeast you dont need to activate it first but you can if you want

there is a chance the yeast is dead and if it is you wont know it until the bread is baked where as if you activate it first you will  know first off if is in fact active

when baking bread in a bread machine should I activate the yeast first?

3 Answers