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Had to pick between store brand yeast and name brand for my sourdough starter
I've been trying to save on groceries so I grabbed the cheap yeast packets at Aldi for $1.29 vs the $4.50 Red Star ones. My starter barely bubbled after 3 days. Switched to the name brand and it took off in 24 hours. Anyone else notice a difference with store brand baking ingredients?
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grant.nina11d ago
That "bloom them in warm water first" thing is smart. I started doing that after a few dud batches. Not just for yeast either. I test my baking soda with vinegar now. Found a store brand box that was basically dead. Totally flat cookies. Switched back to Arm & Hammer and got nice puffy ones again. Sometimes the cheap stuff is fine but seems like quality control is looser for store brands. Some batches are good, some are duds.
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margaret9911d ago
I've actually had the exact opposite experience with King Arthur brand flour vs store brand from Wegmans. My starter went absolutely nuts on the cheap stuff and practically died when I tried the fancy organic flour. The store brand yeast packets from Giant have worked fine for me too, though I always bloom them in warm water first to check if they're alive. Might be a bad batch or maybe your water chemistry changed between jars, not necessarily a brand thing.
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