Hi, all ~
What is the difference between active dry yeast and instant yeast? I just bought some instant yeast at GFS. Can I interchange them?
Thanks!
Julie
If you're not used to baking yeast goods, DON'T interchange.
According to The Bread Bible:
"...Instant yeast enables a dough to be baked without any initial rising time. With three times as many yeast cells as active dry yeast, you can use up to 25 percent less instant yeast in a recipe than active dry yeast, and one-third the amount of fresh cake yeast..."
Also, "Regular Instant is an all-purpose brand of instant yeast that cannot tolerate a lot of sugar or long, slow proofing temperatures because it is constantly rising." She says you need "Special Instant" whatever that is, for sweet doughs or long-rise sponges.
So recipe requirements and ingredients can change, depends on what you're making. Instant is usually added to a recipe differently, and rise times can vary drastically! It can be done, but I've been baking my own bread a LOT longer than I've been decorating cakes and everytime I try to switch instant or rapidrise for active dry it's at least been an adventure! At worst it's been a disaster 
See if you can find a recipe for what you want to make that already calls for instant, and look at how different it is from what you already have!
HTH
Bekah
It's just I've done it and kicked myself for it later. hate for you to do the same.
I recently went to a bread "class" presented by the King Arthur Flour Company. The presenter talked a little bit about yeasts. she said that cake yeast is all "live" and packed into a block. That's why it has such a short shelf life. The packaged dry yeasts are freeze dried, so they can last longer. The little live yeasts are surrounded by dead yeasts, to preserve them. She also said that the difference between instant yeast and rapid rise yeast is that instant yeast doesn't need to be placed in water to "refresh" them into working again first. It can be used directly into the recipe. Rapid rise yeasts are designed for speed, and are not designed to have a 2nd rise.
She made a sweet bread and a white bread with the same kind of yeast.
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