Scientist shares home-made yeast recipe after supermarkets sell out (2024)

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A biologist has revealed how people who can't get hold of yeast for baking can create their own at home - using just a little water and some flour and dried fruit.

ScientistSudeep Agarwala, from Boston, shared his makeshift recipe to help bakers after yeast became one of the ingredients to fly off the shelves in supermarkets when people began preparing for lock-down. Sachets of the baker's essential has also sold out on Amazon in recent days.

Writing on Twitter under the handle@shoelaces3,Agarwala penned his own step-by-step guide to making yeast that can then be used to bake bread.

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He told his followers: 'Friends, I learned last night over Zoom drinks that ya'll're baking so much that there's a shortage of yeast?! I, your local frumpy yeast geneticist have come here to tell you this: THERE IS NEVER A SHORTAGE OF YEAST.'

The scientist then unleashed a thread revealing how to make your own yeast using dried fruits, flour and water - with a good dash of time thrown in.

He instructed people to 'scour' their kitchen for fruits such as apricots, raisins, grapes and prunes.

'Take your fruit (or, if using fresh fruit skins - please use your judgement), pop it into a jar, and add a little bit of water to it. 2 or 3 tablespoons (30-40 mL) is more than enough. If you stir the fruit around, you'll notice the water gets slightly cloudy. That's the yeast!'

After that,Agarwala advised people to add an 'equal mass' of flour to the mixture - any type will do, before writing: 'And then you wait. You'll want to keep this warm (but not hot).

'Hug it while you binge Netflix. Cuddle it while you yearn for human touch once again. Or put it on the counter while your dishwasher is running. Do it right and after 12 hours you'll see bubbles. These will grow.'

After another day of waiting, he advises to 'take a tiny bit of the fruit/flour/water mix, and add it to 30-40mL of water, add flour, and repeat. This time, it should come to life and those bubble should pop up much quicker.'

And, ta da, bakers should be able to rise a loaf using the mixture, although he warns the technique might take some practise.

He also suggested dregs of beer in near-empty bottles could make yeast, as could sugar-heavy water from boiled potatoes.

He signed off his educational lesson, which has already been liked by 112,000 people: 'Yeast is everywhere! Also: please wash your hands and stay away from other people. <3, your local frumpy yeast geneticist.'

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