Anyes is Polish, which means she loves bread. A very temporary desire to attempt baking had her dusting off our 1973 edition of “The Joy Of Cooking”.
Naturally the first bread listed was White Bread. One of the ingredients was “A Cake Of Yeast.”
We went to several stores, from family owned grocers, to chains, to specialty shops. No where could this elusive cake of compressed yeast be found.
Finally, we decided to write Fleischmanns and asked where they distribute cake yeast in Canada.
It turns out, they don’t!
Denise of Fleischmanns Consumer Affairs gave us some helpful advice:
Active dry yeast is an excellent substitute for fresh yeast. One small (.6-ounce) cake of fresh yeast is equivalent to one envelope dry yeast. One large (2-ounce) cake is equivalent to three envelopes dry yeast. Dissolve active dry yeast in warm water (100° to 110°F) and proceed with the recipe as directed.
Then, as quickly as it came, the desire to bake bread abruptly passed. Instead, we visited our local independent bread baker and got ourselves a perfect loaf of fluffy white bread for just a few dollars. No regrets.
