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Keep Soap Dry With Soap Dish

You can keep soap dry with soap dishes and other tools. This will prevent you from getting wet bars of soap and prevent it from dissolving too quickly. We have collected the best tricks for you.

Storing wet soap is a hassle because just laying out the soap to dry always looks kind of crappy. There are effective household aids to ensure that the soap stays dry or can dry better and does not start to smear.

1) Keep soap dry with bottle caps

So that your wet bar of soap can dry quickly, simply use a bottle cap. Then take this and stick it into the bottom of the soap bar. So the soap is always on the crown cap and can dry faster. Also, note our instructions for making soap yourself.

2) Use a loofah soap pillow as a soap dish

To keep soap dry, buy a loofah cucumber. Because their fibers are used as a kind of sponge. So you can cut it into slices and use them as soap pads. Then the soap lies on it, can dry better and it also looks good. Alternatively, you can simply place a slice of the loofah cucumber under the soap. You can also put a slice of loofah cucumber in a regular soap dish as a base for the bar of soap. So the soap is always clean and doesn’t stick. Also, read our tips on gall soap as a home remedy.

3) Use a soap pad with nubs

In addition, you can get soap pads with plastic knobs in specialist shops to put the soap on the sink. The distance between the nubs allows the remaining water to run off. So the soap dries faster. This is also a great idea to set up the bathroom.

4) Keep soap dry washing gloves

If you have wash mitts at home, you can use these as a base for your wet bars of soap. So put the soap on your wash mitts to dry. Or get yourself a laundry bag for soap. Because you can even hang it in the shower. Also, read how to properly clean your shower stall.

5) Different soap dishes from the internet

If you don’t want to make a soap dish yourself, you can find a variety of different soap dishes on the internet. Many are designed in such a way that the water can drain off. As a result, you can keep the soap dry without it looking dirty.

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Dry Yeast and Fresh Yeast: Differences and How to Replace Them

Whether dry yeast or fresh yeast – you can bake airy pizza dough and bread with both types of yeast. In this guide you will find out what the differences are and how you can use fresh yeast and dry yeast.

Yeast is a unicellular microorganism that belongs to the fungi family. This living organism feeds on the sugars and starches in the dough and converts them into carbon dioxide gas, among other things. This is reflected in the bubbles in the dough, which allow it to rise and make it more airy. We use this property of yeast for many recipes – whether pizza dough, home-baked bread or cinnamon rolls.

You can find yeast in two main forms on the market: as dry yeast and fresh yeast, which is also called block yeast. We will explain how the two differ, what you need to look out for when storing and using them, and how you can convert one type of yeast and replace it with the other.

Dry yeast and fresh yeast: differences in yeast types

Dry yeast and fresh yeast have much more in common than differences:

Both dry yeast and fresh yeast are the same strains of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), also known as baker’s yeast or brewer’s yeast.
Dry yeast and fresh yeast serve the same purpose in the bakery: they convert sugar and starch into gaseous carbon dioxide, allowing the dough to rise.
The yeast cultures were also grown and propagated in the same way: on a carbohydrate-rich culture medium. The exact cultivation form depends on whether it is conventional yeast or organic yeast – but not whether it is dry yeast or fresh yeast. You can find out below how organic yeast differs from conventional yeast.

But there are also big differences between dry yeast and fresh yeast:

While fresh yeast consists of around 70 percent water, dry yeast only contains around five percent residual moisture. Therein lies the biggest difference: For dry yeast, fresh yeast is dried.
As a result, dry yeast has a significantly longer shelf life than fresh yeast. While you can store fresh yeast in the fridge for a maximum of two weeks, dry yeast can be stored at room temperature for between several months and a year.
The fungal cultures contained in the dry yeast are inactivated and are only activated by adding liquid. Nevertheless, they are living microorganisms – only in a “resting state”.

Dry yeast or fresh yeast – which is better?

Both dry yeast and fresh yeast do an excellent job as leavening agents. In the finished recipe, the difference is hardly or not at all noticeable.

The benefits of fresh yeast are rather subjective:

Some (hobby) bakers swear by fresh yeast because it gives the baked goods a rounder, slightly sweeter taste.
Some also report that yeast dough rises slightly better with fresh yeast than with dry yeast.
If baked goods require a particularly long fermentation time or several resting phases to rise, fresh yeast is usually recommended. Because it is said to have a longer-lasting driving force than dry yeast.
On the other hand, dry yeast has prevailed today mainly because of its practical advantages over fresh yeast:

Dry yeast can be stored at room temperature for several months in a closed packet. Once opened, you can store the packet tightly sealed in the fridge for another two weeks. Fresh yeast, on the other hand, must be stored in the refrigerator and used within two weeks of purchase.
You don’t have to stir the dry yeast into liquid beforehand, you can mix it directly with the dry baking ingredients. This makes it a little easier to mix the dry yeast with the dough than fresh yeast.
In addition, thanks to its shape, dry yeast is a little easier to dose than fresh yeast in block form.

Conclusion of the comparison:

Fresh yeast should give the baked goods a slightly better taste and also have a higher raising power than dry yeast. For a few recipes like yeast loaf or Berlin pancakes, this is possibly the better yeast.
On the other hand, dry yeast is the much more practical form of yeast, especially for hobby bakers: it lasts much longer and is easier and faster to process.

Using dry yeast and fresh yeast: tips for the kitchen

If you want to make yeast dough yourself, you should consider the following points when preparing it:

First stir fresh yeast with some of the lukewarm liquid from the recipe and some sugar and let this mixture stand for about ten minutes. You can tell by the formation of bubbles that the yeast have started their activity. After the ten minutes, you can mix the liquid with the remaining baking ingredients.
You don’t need to mix dry yeast with liquid first. Mix directly into the dry ingredients in the recipe. Make sure that the remaining ingredients are not too cold: you should therefore take them out of the fridge some time beforehand.
Whether fresh yeast or dry yeast: yeast has the best raising power at temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees. At more than 45 degrees, the yeast fungi die off, while at less than ten degrees, the metabolic processes run considerably more slowly. That means: The cooler, the more walking time you have to plan.
When baking, you can easily convert and replace fresh yeast with dry yeast:

You can replace one cube of fresh yeast (42 grams) with two packets of dry yeast (fourteen grams).
As a result, one packet of dry yeast is equivalent to about half a cube of fresh yeast (21 grams).
As a rule of thumb, half a cube of fresh yeast or a packet of dry yeast is sufficient for 500 grams of flour. However, this amount varies greatly depending on the recipe.
In principle, you can also mix fresh yeast and dry yeast in a recipe, should this ever be necessary.

Buy yeast: organic quality and list of ingredients

It doesn’t matter whether it’s dry yeast or fresh yeast: we recommend that you pay attention to organic quality when buying. Because there are some differences between organic yeast and conventional yeast:

Growth medium: Conventional yeasts are often cultivated on molasses (a by-product of sugar production), phosphorus or inorganic nitrogen. Organic yeasts, on the other hand, are cultivated on natural raw materials from controlled organic cultivation, often on grain or sugar beet syrup.
Defoaming agent: To prevent growth-inhibiting foam from forming, sunflower oil is added to organic yeast as a defoaming agent. With conventional yeasts, synthetic substances are used for this purpose, which later have to be rinsed out with plenty of water. Therefore, according to the Bavarian Consumer Center, more water is used in the production of conventional yeast than in the case of organic yeast.
Genetic engineering: In addition, no genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are used in the production of organic yeast. Since there are still no reliable long-term studies on the health effects of GMOs, we recommend non-GMO foods.
If you want to buy dry yeast, you should also take a closer look at the ingredients:

Some of the dry yeast contains emulsifiers so that the yeast does not dry out. The most commonly used emulsifier is sorbitan monostearate with the E number 491. There are even some emulsifiers in fresh yeast.
Organic manufacturers in particular usually deliberately avoid using emulsifiers. With their yeast, there is nothing else in the packet but yeast.

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Dry Yeast, Fresh Yeast

Germ is the Austrian term for yeast. Dry yeast is a preserved raising and loosening agent that does not have to be touched (no steam necessary).

1 packet of dried yeast contains about 7 g and is sufficient for about 500 g of flour. The dry yeast can be mixed directly with the flour. Basically, you need a little more dry yeast and the dough needs a little more time to rise.

1 cube of fresh yeast has 42 g and is sufficient for 1 kg of flour. Dissolve the fresh yeast in the warm liquid (water and/or milk) and only then mix with the flour. A Dampfl can also be prepared as a fermentation test.

Dampf as a fermentation test

A steamer or pre-dough can be used to check whether the yeast is still suitable as a leavening agent, and the yeast dough becomes particularly fluffy. Beat the yeast in the warm liquid with a little sugar and flour until the dough comes off the wooden spoon. Then dust with flour and cover and leave to rise for about 10 minutes. If the Dampfl rises, the yeast is fresh. For further processing, mix the Dampfl with the other ingredients for the yeast dough.

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Dry Wild Garlic: This is How You Make It Last for the Rest of the Year

If you dry wild garlic, you can also use the delicious wild herb out of season. Here you can find out how you can dry wild garlic yourself and what you should consider.

It is worth drying wild garlic. The weed is only fresh and ready to harvest in spring, but you can use it dried all year round.

Wild garlic normally grows outdoors as a weed. But you can also plant wild garlic in the garden. Find out beforehand when wild garlic season is.

To dry wild garlic, you have two options: let the leaves dry in the air or in the oven. We recommend that you air-dry the wild garlic if possible to save energy.

Dried wild garlic can be kept for a few months if you store it in a dry place that is protected from light.

Wild garlic dry in the air: This is how you do it

How to air dry wild garlic:

Wash the leaves and gently pat dry with a kitchen towel.
Tie the leaves at the stems into a small bouquet. Use a cord made of natural materials, such as raffia, or kitchen twine.
Hang the bouquet in a dark and dry place. Make sure the place doesn’t have high humidity.
Let the wild garlic dry for about a week or two.
Pick up the dried bouquets. If necessary, you can crumble the wild garlic or keep it in the form of a leaf. Store the dried wild garlic in a dry and cool place, preferably in an opaque container.
Tip: You can tell if the leaves are done drying by the fact that they rustle when they rub against each other. You can also easily rub the dried leaves between your fingers and snap off the stems.

Dry wild garlic in the oven

If you don’t have a suitable place for air drying, you can alternatively dry the wild garlic in the oven. However, this process is very energy-intensive.

How to do it:

Wash the leaves and gently pat dry with a kitchen towel.
Remove the stalks from the wild garlic leaves.
Spread them out on a wire rack or baking sheet so they don’t touch each other
Set the oven to 40 degrees Celsius and put the tray in the oven.
Leave the door slightly ajar to allow the moisture to escape.
Turn the leaves regularly so they dry evenly.
After three to four hours, the leaves should be dry. However, check the degree of drying regularly beforehand to avoid burning the leaves.

Use dried wild garlic

Wild garlic is a popular herb for cooking and seasoning. The taste is reminiscent of garlic and gives your food a subtle spiciness. Use your dried wild garlic in a variety of ways in the kitchen.

Make your own wild garlic butter or wild garlic soup. Dried wild garlic is also a suitable spice for wild garlic bread or wild garlic dumplings, or you can use it to refine a wild garlic pizza.

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