lindab49•1mo agoMost Upvoted

That moment I realized I was killing my yeast every time...

For like 2 years I was making bread and it never rose right. I figured I just had bad luck or my kitchen was too cold. Then last month my sister watched me dump sugar into water with the yeast and she goes "that water is way too hot, you're cooking it." I had been using tap water straight from the faucet at like 140 degrees without thinking. Has anyone else made a stupid basic mistake like that for ages without knowing?

3 comments

3 Comments

emmaj331mo ago

140 degrees is hot enough to kill yeast completely... I learned that the hard way too. Water that feels "warm" on your wrist is around 100-110 which is actually what you want. Your sister was right to call you out on that. Most people don't realize yeast dies way before water starts steaming or bubbling. That's why recipes always say "wrist temp" or "baby bottle warm" not "coffee hot." I wouldn't call it dramatic to point out a basic science fact like that.

riley_west1mo ago

140 degrees is basically soup.

tyler_wilson1mo ago

Oh come on, it's not like it's boiling or anything... 140 degrees is just kinda warm, you can still hold a mug of coffee at that temp without it being soup. People get so dramatic about temperatures these days like it's a big deal or something.