Allinson's

Allinson's is a British baking name best known for wholemeal and bread flours, and its yeast sits naturally beside them. The range we carry is dried active yeast in a resealable tin, the classic granular type that home bakers used long before fast-action sachets appeared.

Allinson's yeast sits in our yeast collection, part of the wider baking shelf with baking powder, cocoa and essences. Dried active yeast differs from fast-action yeast in one important way: it must be dissolved and activated in warm liquid before being mixed into flour, which gives a little more control and a slightly fuller flavour in slow doughs.

To use it, sprinkle the granules over warm water or milk with a pinch of sugar and leave for ten to fifteen minutes until frothy, then add to the flour. It raises sandwich loaves, bread rolls and soft Mumbai pav for vada pav and pav bhaji. Naan dough made with yeast and yoghurt puffs well under a hot grill, and Kerala cooks often use a little yeast to ferment appam batter and vattayappam overnight. It also suits pizza bases, doughnuts, bhatura and sweet buns. If the mixture does not foam, the water was too hot or the yeast has expired.

Once the tin is opened, close it tightly and keep it in the fridge, which helps the yeast stay lively for longer. For yeast you can mix straight into flour, compare the Hovis and McDougalls fast-action sachets.