What’s the difference between ‘nutritional yeast’ and the yeast used in baking? Can one bake with ‘nutritional yeast’?
In: 4
They’re the same species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but usually different strains.
The salient difference is that nutritional yeast is dead, and yeast for brewing or baking has to be alive to do its thing, i.e. producing carbon dioxide and/or ethanol.
Bakers yeast is a fungus called *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* (which, if you know your Latin, means sugar-eating fungus that makes beer.)
Essentially, *Saccharomyces* consumes sugar, and poops out alcohol and carbon dioxide, and that’s how you get things like bread to rise, or grapes to turn into wine.
Nutritional yeast was once *Saccharomyces cerevisiae,* it has been given some sugar to eat to allow it to grow a bit, and then it gets heated so that the yeast cells die. The resulting product is kind of a nutty powder that tastes a bit buttery or cheesy, and is commonly used by vegans as a butter substitute. You cannot bake with it, because the yeast cells are dead.
No. nutritional yeast is flavoring only and that is all. Regular yeast is for baking it is called baker’s. yeast or just yeast.
Latest Answers