Making Your Own Yeast

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, people are staying home. It seems that they are doing a LOT of baking, because both flour and yeast are in short supply. You probably aren't going to be making your own flour, but you can make your own yeast, at least according to this Twitter thread from a yeast geneticist.

Friends, I learned last night over Zoom drinks that ya'll're baking so much that there's a shortage of yeast?! I, your local frumpy yeast geneticist have come here to tell you this: THERE IS NEVER A SHORTAGE OF YEAST. Here's where I'm a viking. Instructions below.

Scour your kitchen for any dried fruit: grapes, raisins, prunes, apricots. Fresh fruit works too, but it's best to leave it unwashed, and given our current situation this is probably not a wise thing to do unless you've grown the fruit yourself and trust it.

You're well on your way. Add an equal mass of flour to this mixture. If you don't have a scale add enough flour to make a loose, wet dough. DON'T GET FANCY: old flour is fine. White flour is perfect (it's what I prefer). Doesn't have to be organic, doesn't have to be high gluten.