Bread isn't rising

[dd57chevy]

Hi , I haven't visited in a while , but I need the resident bread experts to tell me what I'm doing wrong . Here is what I'm attempting. I moved from Georgia to Iowa and can't get my bread to rise. I mill my own wheat as I did in Georgia. I'm using different yeast.
Thanks!

 

[retired baker]

Fresh or dry yeast, I have a devil of a time with instant yeast, I only used fresh for 50 years.
My last loaf looked like I never baked a day in my life.

 

[dd57chevy]

Fresh or dry yeast, I have a devil of a time with instant yeast, I only used fresh for 50 years.
My last loaf looked like I never baked a day in my life.

That's more than I knew before. Where does one buy fresh yeast?
I was also wondering if soft water makes a difference in my water?
Thank you for assisting me.

 

[retired baker]

That's more than I knew before. Where does one buy fresh yeast?
I was also wondering if soft water makes a difference in my water?
Thank you for assisting me.

You usually need to be in a bigger city to get cake yeast, amazon has it but its very expensive.
In Boston it was $1 lb wholesale, I could buy it from bakeries for $5 lb.
I live in northern Maine now, forgetaboutit.
There aren't even any bakeries here. Pizza guys all use dry yeast and their pizza sucks.
If you can find any, use COLD water, not warm.
In summer use ice water, its very lively.

 

[MixUp]

That's more than I knew before. Where does one buy fresh yeast?
I was also wondering if soft water makes a difference in my water?
Thank you for assisting me.

If you could get your bread to rise before, your only differences are geography, altitude, and ingredients.

Did your altitude change significantly? Bread rises a lot faster at high altitude and/or over-rises and collapses, so if you changed altitudes, that might be your issue, requiring yeast adjustments, time adjustments, and hydration changes.

Other than that, water shouldn't be playing a role unless something is very wrong with the water, so you're probably looking at the usual issues with temperatures, dead yeast, badly proofed yeast (if it's a type that requires proofing) in the wrong water temp, etc....you're in colder climes now. The water and room are colder, but the wheat is so much fresher!