Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2020

own kitchen.
“You couldn’t find yeast on the shelves,”
Johnson said of the ingredient that is normally
a staple in her pantry. “Yeast bread is a comfort
food, and the pandemic has us all looking
for foods that make us feel safe in this time of
uncertainty.”
Yeast shortage in a pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic left the general
population with a lot of home time on their
hands, and what screams “home” more than
a loaf of bread baking in the oven, the rich
aroma circulating and the bread melting in
your mouth?
But with more people at home baking, the
nation found itself in the midst of a yeast
shortage. During four weeks in March and
April, yeast sales jumped 410%, according to
market research firm Nielsen.
Yeast is a single-celled fungi that has been
used to bake bread for thousands of years.
Active dry yeast is most commonly used by
home bakers who knead dough for loaves of
bread, homemade pizza, etc.
Manufacturing plants typically feed those
yeast cells with carbohydrates and nutrients
so they actively grow
and reproduce. The yeast
is then filtered, dried,
packaged, and stocked on
store shelves.
Yeast production
generally takes about 10
days for manufacturers.
For Johnson, however,
the much-smaller-scale
sourdough yeast growth took
between five and seven days.
It’s a fairly simple process as long as you
remember to feed the yeast beast, she said
Science experiments gone right
An episode of “Good Eats: Dr. Strangeloaf”
with Alton Brown piqued Johnson’s
interest. She said it’s one of few programs
that uses correct cooking methods, explaining
the science behind the methods and offering
helpful tips.
It’s truly a science experiment, Johnson
said, balancing and adjusting acids and bases,
mixing ingredients, separating them, feeding
them, repeating and documenting results. She
prefers to cook and bake with standardized
Did you know...
Sourdough has been around
for more than 5,000 years.
Some bakeries in France claim
to have used the same starter
since the age of Napoleon.
Sourdough starter flavors
are unique to the yeast that
grows in the area. Sourdough
created in Jackson County
will not taste like the famed
sourdough of San Francisco,
or even sourdough from the
western side of Iowa.
Feedthe
Fields
and they’ll
Feed you
Chemicals • Seed
Dry & Liquid Fertilizer
Custom Dry Fertilizer Application
Dry Fertilizer Spreader Rental
Feeding
fields for over
40 years!
901 Johnson St. SW
Cascade, IA
(563) 852-7559
wfront@netins.net
Call or stop by to talk with one of our salesmen
to see how they can help your dollars grow with a
peRSonALizeD heRbiCiDe pRogRAm!
36 Eastern Iowa Farmer | fall 2020 eifarmer.com