where can I get fresh yeast?

where can I get fresh yeast?
I saw that hot cross bun recipe from Peter Gordon the other day on TV, he used fresh bakers yeast - I thought "fresh yeast?". I am trying to find fresh yeast for quite a few years (back home in Europe one can buy it in the Supermarket...) but so far no luck - does anyone know where to get it here? Maybe any organic stores or so - must be Auckland though..
Just go to Pak n Save and ask at the bakery. The bakers will get you the amount you want and its REALLY cheap.
Its not on the shelves or advertised, so you do need to ask the bakers. I'm sure other supermarket bakers would do it for you too.
I wanted to use fresh yeast in an Italian recipe I have for pizza. I found it at Nosh but have just found out that it has been frozen. Apparently as soon as they receive it they freeze it. I wondered why my dough did not double in size, and read on another website that freezing kills the yeast. Can anyone out there shed some light on this for me?
Yeast and cheese cultures, which are another sort of 'good' bacteria, are not killed by freezing them, but after about 9 months to a year the quality begins to decline. You should only buy enough to last you about 6 months.
Oh thank you shaunandtamara, I will see about getting some on Thursday when I get my groceries at packers, I do lots of breadmaking so this will be brilliant. And knowing I can freeze it, I love being part of his cummunity.
As we have access to buy fresh yeast in bulk, I want to buy it in and cut it into smaller portions and vac pack it and potentially freeze it also. Does anybody know if this will prolong the active dates of the product and if so, for how long?
Hi 'crazyaboutcooking',
The yeast you brought from Nosh was no doubt in a plastic tub. As fresh yeast is not available in retail format we decided to buy it in commercial quantities and pack it ourselves. We new it had a short refridgerated shelf life and so chose to store it frozen. since then we have found that over time it is susceptible to freezer burn which reduces its potency. We are now trialing a new packaging method that will hopefully overcome this and after much research we are confident that frozen yeast - stored correctly - will last 6 - 9 months at least, as previously quoted. With regards to price, the accesability of it and packing puts it around $4-$5 per block, but like anything, the more you buy it - the cheaper it becomes! (tip: store it in and airtight jar in the freezer once the packet is open)
regards, james@nosh - head chef and store manager