Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast
Learn how to make real sourdough bread without the sourdough starter! Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast is the convenience of dried yeast, with the flavor of real sourdough.
Platinum Instant Sourdough Overview
Have you ever wished you could make sourdough bread without going through the trouble of keeping and maintaining a sourdough starter? Well, now you can! Red Star Yeast just released their brand new product: Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast!
What is really awesome about this yeast is that it combines the convenience of dried yeast with the flavor of real sourdough. It really is brilliant!
What is Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast?
Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast is a blend of Red Star’s Platinum Instant Yeast and a real dried sourdough culture. This lends an authentic sourdough flavor to your breads without a finicky starter.
Platinum yeast is the dried yeast I have used and loved for years. I’ve shown it many times in my yeast bread recipes here, and often use it in my bread baking on Instagram. Platinum yeast is a unique two-in-one blend of instant yeast and natural dough strengtheners for a superior rise, both before and during baking. This means not only will your bread have a real sourdough flavor, but it will surely bake up beautifully as well.
What is a Sourdough Culture?
A sourdough culture (also called a sourdough starter) is a natural culture of yeasts, as well as bacteria, that is used to leaven bread. A live sourdough culture must be cared for and fed frequently to keep it lively and active. Many bakers find a lot of joy in this process, but others find it to be too finicky and not worth the effort.
The Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast contains a real sourdough culture in it. This culture has been dried out and deactivated so it can go right into your bread dough to add its authentic sourdough flavor.
How to Use Instant Sourdough Yeast
Using the Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast is extremely simple. All you have to do is substitute 1 full package for a 1/4-ounce packet of dried yeast in any recipe. That’s it!
The instant sourdough can be used in any recipe that calls for dried yeast, weather it calls for active dry or rapid rise (aka instant or quick rise) yeast. It really works beautifully in any yeast bread recipe, but I especially love using it with my easy no-knead bread and my basic pizza dough!
The Package Looks Bigger? Do I use the Whole Thing?
The instant sourdough package is a bigger package than traditional dried yeast. A package of dried yeast contains 7 grams of yeast. The Platinum Instant Sourdough is an 18 gram package. 7 grams of the contents is the dried yeast and the other 11 grams is the dried sourdough culture.
You do want to use the entire package and it is not advised to use only part of a package. Because it is a blend of the dried yeast and the sourdough culture, you wouldn’t be sure how much actual yeast you were putting in your recipe if you didn’t use the whole package.
Can I use the Instant Sourdough in Recipes that Call for a Sourdough Starter?
The instant sourdough is not meant to be used in recipes that call for actual sourdough starter. Recipes that call for actual sourdough starter have different ratios of flour and liquid in them and the timings of the recipes also work differently than with dried yeast.
Do I need to Let My Dough Rise Overnight?
The sourdough culture in the instant sourdough yeast is not alive so it does not ferment once it is added into the bread dough. The dried yeast is the thing that will be fermenting, so it does not require the long fermentation times that bread made with live sourdough starter does.
However, anytime you are making bread whether with dried yeast or active sourdough culture, doing a long slow ferment does increase the flavor of the dough. You can choose to put your bread dough in the refrigerator overnight to slow down and prolong the fermentation process. This will extract more flavor from the dried yeast.
Where to Buy Platinum Instant Sourdough
Red Star Yeast is working hard to get the Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast into grocery stores. To find a store in your area that carries it, you can use their store finder and select the specific product. If your store doesn’t carry it yet, make sure you request it with the grocery manager. This is the best way to get the product into your store.
If there are no stores in your area that are carrying it yet, you can purchase it online here. You can also request a free sample from the Red Star Yeast website. But due to the excitement around this product, they cannot guarantee that you will get it in time to enter the sweepstakes discussed below.
Sourdough it Up!
A few weeks ago I had the privileged of joining Red Star Yeast at the Pizza and Culinary Institute to learn all about their new Instant Sourdough Yeast. I was so excited, because as you probably now by now, I absolutely love sourdough bread! But I totally understand that not everyone is interested in maintaining a starter. This is such a great alternative!
We had the pleasure of taking a Pizzaiolo Masterclass with Master Istruttore Leo Spizzirri! It was such a wonderful experience. He showed us how to properly stretch pizza dough and how to make the perfect Neopolitan style pizza. Then we got to try our hand at making our own pizza with the Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast and we competed against each other in the Pizzaoli challenge.
The provided us with a variety of toppings and we were let loose to stretch our own pizza dough and craft our own unique pizza.
Then the pizzas were off to the oven for a quick bake!
And finally, the fun part! The taste test! We each tasted all of the pizzas and judged them.
My sourdough pizza topped with sun dried tomatoes, pepperoni, hot honey, and arugula won for “Most Creative!” But seriously, all of the pizzas were incredible and the sourdough crust made them all the better!
Sourdough it Up! Sweepstakes
Now it’s your turn to turn to “sourdough it up!” In celebration of the launch of the Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast, Red Star just announced the Sourdough it Up! sweepstakes! “Sourdough up” any yeast recipe to enter for a chance to win one of five $500 baking prize packages!
How to enter:
• Use Platinum Instant Sourdough from Red Star to “sourdough up” your favorite yeast recipe
• Take a photo of your final baked product that includes a packet of Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast
• Share your photo on Instagram using the hashtags #SourdoughItUp and tag @RedStarYeast in the picture
• The photo must be shared on a public Instagram account.
Entry dates: September 16 – October 31, 2019
• Maximum of five (5) entries per person. Each entry must be a unique photo meeting the above requirements.
• Visit Red Star Yeast for more details.
How will you Sourdough it Up!?
14 Comments on “Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast”
This is such a fun product and you explained how to use it so well! I really want to try it for pizza!!
It would really help if someone,ANYONE would print an actual recipe using the dang stuff! A plain simple basic recipe! An example of how to use the stuff! I may be a senior citizen and dense but really, I have had the sample platinum instant sourdough package for months and have looked everywhere for a recipe. For the cost of package I am afraid to waste the money and time. From what I have seen online to order the stuff it is cheaper to go down to my local bakery and buy a loaf! A recipe please already!
Hi Nanci! So sorry you’re frustrated with finding a recipe written specifically to be used with the platinum instant sourdough. But actually, the beauty of this yeast is it is specifically designed to be a 1:1 substitute for any recipe that uses a package of dried yeast. You don’t need to do anything different at all! Take any recipe that calls for a package of yeast and replace it with a full package of the instant sourdough. It will add some sourdough flavor to your bread. A few recipes I have enjoyed it in are my fluffy white sandwich loaf https://bakerbettie.com/country-white-bread/ and my rustic no-knead bread and my easy rustic loaf: https://bakerbettie.com/easy-bread-recipe/
This article was meant to educate on what the product is and that you don’t actually need a special recipe to use it!
Thank you for posting this! I too am with Nanci and wasn’t understanding what to do with the package LOL. Hoorah, I get it now!
can i use this in my breadmachine recipes?
Hi – can I use instant sourdough in a bread machine?
Yes you can! Use it just like you would any other dried yeast.
Everything I have read so far says we can’t use it in the bread machine. I don’t suppose you have tried this. I am assuming you don’t use a bread maker, do you?
Hi – can I use instant sourdough in a bread machine?
I use Red Star Quick Rise yeast for a fast no-knead bread with a 1-hr rise time + an additional 30-minute rise after shaping. Will Platinum Instant Sourdough yeast work in that recipe or should I stay with the more traditional 12-hour rise?
I just bought some. I’d not only never seen it before but never heard of it either. So far I’ve made 2 loaves in my bread maker that has a history of making excellent bread and following the simple directions on the package and so far both loaves have fallen in on top. This is obviously due to the yeast sourdough mix but I’m in the dark as to why. I’m guessing over kneading but would love another better informed opinion. Thanks
I started making sourdough bread when we found that one of our family members had high A1C results over multiple tests and is at risk of pre-diabetes and we learned that sourdough was a better choice nutritionally… Is that still the case using platinum instant sourdough yeast + culture? I’ve had great success with Platinum instant sourdough…so much so that I baked boules for my entire circle of friends this last Christmas (14 loaves); everyone raved at how good it was… Yes, GREAT taste is important but hoping we’re still getting same nutritional benefits… Any comments on the matter?
Where’d I go wrong? I’ve been baking a white sandwich bread (Ree Drummond’s recipe) since the start of the pandemic and those loaves consistently turned out perfect. I thought the addition of the sourdough flavor would take it to the next level. The dough failed to rise. I’ve got one more package to try but frankly I’m a little nervous about wasting more flour. Any suggestions for where I could have gone wrong?
I have a 1 lb bread machine and love making sour dough bread can i use red stars new instant sourdough yeast in the machine if so can you provide me a great sourdough recipe