Dad's Saxon Yeast

This is a century-old heritage recipe from the Transylvanian Saxons, the German-speaking community of what is now central Romania. Before commercial yeast was available at every grocery, bakers kept their own leavening alive with homemade yeast cakes like these, produced in batches large enough to last a household several months.

The process is beautifully simple. Hops get boiled in water for 30 minutes to extract their bitter preservative compounds, then the cooled infusion mixes with rye flour and active yeast, ferments overnight, and the bubbling dough gets worked with barley flour into a stiff mass. Rolled thin, cut into disks, and air-dried, the cakes preserve live yeast for months. One tablespoon of the dried crumble equals one packet of modern yeast.

Kitchen Tips

• Boil the hops in a non-reactive pot. The bitter alpha acids can stain aluminum and leave metallic notes.
• Cool the hop tea to 110F (43C) or cooler before adding yeast. Hotter liquid will kill the yeast and the whole batch is dead on arrival.
• Dry the disks out of direct sunlight. UV light kills yeast cells; shade and airflow preserve them for the long term.
• Store the dried cakes in a tin with a tight lid in a cool, dry pantry. Moisture is the enemy. Properly dried cakes keep for up to a year.

Variations

• Add a handful of crushed juniper berries to the hops boil for a more complex, aromatic yeast.
• Use whole wheat flour in place of barley if barley flour is hard to source.
• Make a smaller test batch first (one-quarter scale) to dial in the drying time for your climate before committing to the full 12-pound flour quantity.