IDY vs. ADY vs. Fresh Yeast: What’s the Difference?

IDY vs. ADY vs. Fresh Yeast: What’s the Difference?

If you make enough pizza dough, eventually you’re going to run into three different types of yeast: instant dry yeast (IDY), active dry yeast (ADY), and fresh yeast.

They all basically have the same job. Eat sugars, produce carbon dioxide and help your dough rise. But they don’t behave exactly the same, and you definitely don’t use the same amount of each.

So which one should you use?

For most home pizza makers, I’m going to make this pretty simple: I use IDY.

But lets break down all three.

Instant Dry Yeast — IDY

This is my go-to.

IDY has smaller granules than active dry yeast and you can mix it right into your flour. No need to dissolve it in warm water first or “wake it up.”

That’s one of the reasons I like it. It’s easy, predictable and lasts a long time when stored properly.

For pizza dough, especially when I’m doing a longer fermentation in the refrigerator, I’m usually working with a pretty small amount anyway. IDY makes that easy.

Why I like it:

• Mixes directly into the flour

• Very reliable

• Stores well

• Great for long fermentation

• Easy to find

• No extra step

One important thing: more yeast doesn’t mean better dough.

If I’m making a 2 or 3 day dough, I don’t need a ton of yeast. Time is doing a lot of the work for me. Too much yeast can actually make the dough ferment too fast and blow right past where you want it.

Active Dry Yeast — ADY

ADY is probably what a lot of us grew up seeing in those little packets at the grocery store.

The granules are larger than IDY and traditionally ADY is dissolved in warm water before being added to the dough.

Modern ADY is more forgiving than it used to be and some brands can be added directly to the flour. Still, if I’m choosing between ADY and IDY for pizza, I’m grabbing the IDY.

ADY works perfectly fine. I just don’t see much of an advantage to using it.

You also generally need a little more ADY than IDY when converting a recipe.

Fresh Yeast

Fresh yeast, sometimes called cake yeast or compressed yeast, is completely different looking.

Instead of dry granules, it’s soft, moist and crumbly. You’ll see it used in some bakeries and pizzerias, especially traditional operations.

There is something pretty cool about using fresh yeast. I’ll admit it. It feels old school.

But there are downsides.

Fresh yeast doesn’t last nearly as long as dry yeast and needs to stay refrigerated. It’s also harder for most home cooks to find.

Does it automatically make better pizza?

No.

That’s one of those pizza myths that gets repeated enough that people start believing it.

Fresh yeast can make fantastic dough. So can IDY.

Your fermentation time, temperature, flour, hydration and how you handle the dough are going to matter a hell of a lot more than whether your yeast came out of a foil block or a jar.

Converting Between Them

This is where people get themselves into trouble.

You can’t just substitute them gram for gram.

A good starting point is:

1 gram IDY ≈ 1.25 grams ADY ≈ 3 grams fresh yeast

You’ll see slightly different conversion ratios depending on the yeast manufacturer and recipe, so don’t treat this like some sacred pizza equation carved into a stone tablet.

For pizza dough we’re sometimes dealing with fractions of a gram anyway. Especially with long fermentation.

That’s also why I recommend using a small digital scale that reads to 0.01 grams if you’re getting serious about dough.

Trying to measure 0.4 grams of yeast with a teaspoon is basically culinary gambling.

Does One Taste Better?

This is where things get interesting.

People will swear they can taste the difference between fresh yeast and dry yeast.

Maybe in certain recipes and fermentation schedules they can.

But with pizza dough, I think people sometimes give the yeast too much credit.

Good flavor comes largely from fermentation.

Give the dough enough time, control your temperature and use the right amount of yeast. That’s where you’re going to start developing better flavor and texture.

The yeast is the engine.

Time and temperature are the steering wheel.

What Do I Recommend?

For the average home pizza maker:

Use IDY.

It’s reliable, inexpensive, easy to store and works beautifully for everything from same-day dough to a 72-hour cold fermentation.

If your recipe calls for ADY, use it. Nothing wrong with it.

If you can get fresh yeast and want to experiment with it, absolutely try it. That’s half the fun of making pizza.

Just don’t expect fresh yeast to magically turn Tuesday night’s dough into something from Naples.

Unfortunately, yeast hasn’t figured out teleportation yet.

Dough Daddy Tip: Whatever yeast you’re using, pay attention to your dough temperature and fermentation time, not just the clock. Dough doesn’t know your schedule. It knows temperature.

And sometimes it can be a real pain in the butt about it