Pandemic bread baking boom causes yeast shortage on Staten Island and beyond – SILive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Forget toilet paper and Lysol shortages — home bakers are bereft to find yeast in traditional markets as quarantined Staten Islanders try their hand at making dough.

Ellen Decker of Westerleigh said she scoured Costco and ShopRite late last week for the leavening agent.

“No dice!” she reported.

ShopRite has since gotten shipments of what Decker calls “gold” but supermarket owner Kevin Mannix confirmed demand is high “with low product availability from suppliers.”

A rep for ACH Food Companies, Inc. which makes Fleischmann’s Yeast (and other products) recommended bakers call stores first to ensure of stocking and availability.

“Our corporate has confirmed that they are focusing primarily on rapid production of products, including the Fleischmann’s Yeasts. They are aware that there has been a sharp increase in demand as COVID-19 has caused many consumer’s to purchase additional product to accommodate their varying needs at home,” said the rep.

She added, “While we apologize that consumers may be experiencing difficulty finding our products during this time due to increase in demand, we are increasing production to get the products back on shelves as quickly as possible.”

Bill Fani from Met Foods said he struggles to replenish yeast and has turned to restaurant supply stores for one- and two-pound bags. Then again, he said, shoppers now also order flour by the 10- to 25-pound sacks from his Grasmere and Castleton Corners stores. So sales of the industrial-sized packages of leavening aren’t too hard to fathom.

“I guess [a yeast shortage] makes sense because we all have time on our hands and baking bread and pizza are great diversions,” said Ken Sinclair of Grasmere of the phenomenon. He first noticed a dearth of yeast and flour around April 1 as he, too, has been playing the dough game. An oven baking stone, Sinclair says, “makes the results wonderful.”

Michael Pica of Randall Manor roasted a homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella and meatball slices. (Courtesy of Michael Pica)Pamela Silvestri

Janet Kelleher from Westerleigh said yeast is a regular cupboard ingredient lately. It’s what helps feed what she calls her “new pandemic hobby.” She’s has stunning successes with garlic sticks, rolls and turned out a particularly sensational version of Italian bread.

Fresh dough kneaded and floured (Courtesy of Janet Kelleher)

“It was more dense than what you would buy at the store, but it was nice and soft on the inside and a little crunchy on the outside,” she enthused, adding that a schmear of rich Irish butter put a hot slice on the level of manna from heaven.

Bread — Hot bread with Irish butter (Courtesy of Janet Kelleher)

In her excitement over the product she decided to create a favorite dish of the neighborhood’s mailman, aka “Coop” — a chicken parmigiana hero.

“We see Coop everyday, still delivering the mail knowing he has a family back home and is risking his health to make sure we all still get our mail,” said Kelleher with the reward.

One way to avoid yeast is to make biscuits which get rising power from baking powder, as illustrated by Tracy Bilotto of West Brighton. Inspiration for the creation: She made them from scratch for the first time, as she said, for her “adored first responder son who is FDNY EMS.”

Fresh Italian bread with chicken parmigiana for the mailman (Courtesy of Janet Kelleher)

Tony Giordano, also of Westerleigh, said he and wife, Renee, do quite a bit of bread baking.

“But not because of the pandemic,” Tony said. With a newfound lifestyle as vegans they now make all their food from scratch.

“The photo of the baked bread was another twist to bread baking,” said Tony Giordano of Westerleigh. “Instead of baking in a bread pan, we tried just sitting it in the center of a skillet (one okay for oven use) and putting it in the oven. The skillet handle makes it easier to handle than a baking pan.”

He shares a bread tip to avoid buying yeast — try using a starter, a bit of dough left over from a prior batch.

Tony said, “Just before leaving my bread to rise for the second time — or if you only do one rise, just before going into the oven — rip a piece of dough the size of a walnut and put it in a pot or bowl.” Then, he instructs, mix one cup water and flour each and stir it until it becomes a “slurry-like” liquid.

He instructs, “Cover it and leave it on the counter. The next day you can use this mix to start another bread — add all your regular ingredients except yeast (which won’t be needed for rising) and subtract one cup of water and one cup of flour from the recipe since you already have it with this mix.”

Save another walnut-sized piece of dough as before and repeat the process.

“And have your yeast for the next day,” said Tony. Or you can put the mix in the fridge and use two days later.

He admits the starter thing is not a novel concept. In fact San Francisco bakers have used a sourdough starter for over 140 years, he points out.

“My wife, Renee, and I are still experimenting to see how long we can let our starter yeast sit before using. We’re hoping for at least four days so it will fit our bread-eating habits,” Tony said.

Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com.

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