I once heard that the rising power of products sold in Poland and the USA differs. Fresh yeast sold in little cakes in America is supposedly more potent by weight than its Polish equiavlent, (ie less is required to raise the ssame amount of ingredients), but Polish baking powder is supposedly sronger. If that is true, that would make a difference when using recipes from the other country. Anybody have a clue?
The default in US recipes is "double-acting" baking powder. This means part of the chemical reaction that cause leavening occurs at room temperature while the product is being mixed, and another reaction occurs at the higher heat during baking. I've never looked for Polish baking powder when in Poland. My only guess is to read the fine print and determine if the baking powder available is single acting or double actint. Good luck.
Merged: POLISH AND AMERICAN FRESH YEAST NOT THE SAME?
Many Polish raised cake recipes call for 5 dekagrams of fresh yeast which seems like a lot compared to the amoint of American (eg Fleischmann's) yeast prescribed. That suggests that Polish yeast by quantity has less rising power or, conversely, the Amerrican stuff has more.
Anyone know if there is some conversion -- not in terms of quantity put potency?
Such as 1 oz American fresh yeast = 1.5, 1.7, 1.9 oz Polish yeast in rising power?
Isn't Dekagrams the same as Decigrams or Decagrams? A Decigram = 10 grams, so 50 grams of yeast seems a normal amount to me...
(Edit: this of course depends on the amount of flour you would use)
An ounce is 28,34 gram, so indeed it seems that for some recipes there is more yeast required in Polish dishes than there is needed in American dishes.
You will need more fresh yeast than you will need powdered yeast as the latter is more concentrated. Or maybe it's just what they are used to?
1 Dekagram = 10 gram
1 Hectogram = 100 gram
1 Ounce = 28,34 gram
1 Pound = 453,59 gram
Don't think there is some "power" conversion, though. Just go by the recipe and divide everything by 28,34.
Hope this helps.
>^..^<
M-G (tiens)
