I found in a couple of books recently with these recipes in them and wondered why ginger in the yeast?  This seems like a very unusual ingredient for a yeast, which is the base for making bread (and many other recipes).  I thought that it would inhibit the growth of the yeast, which uses sugar, water and some kind of a starch (flour or potatoes), to create a gas that is used to leven breads, all sorts of other baked goods and some cakes.     

Ginger is a spice, a pretty strong one.  It can be a very hot flavor and I would have thought it would affect the growth of the yeast.  But it seems, from reading these recipes that it actually helps the yeast grow faster and helps stabilize the mix.  I have never made my own yeast, but I have read a lot of these recipes in most of my books.  This I may have to try, just to see the difference in how it works. 

From Groveport Ohio 1902

Wabash Indiana 1910’s through 1920’s, a ledger book cookbook full of newspaper clippings and some handwritten. 

Another interesting yeast with ginger and potatoes. 

These is a little tid-bits that I found, just recently a couple of recipes for potato yeast that came up with some ginger in it.  I could not figure out why until I see this in another book. 

A large lot of notebooks filled with handwritten recipes from 1940’s through 1950’s.  Several are in shorthand and it includes a lot of life lessons and advice.  These are from Columbus, Wisconsin, written by a Mrs. Corinne Christians.

https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/12084/ginger-and-yeast

“Yeast grows at an exponential rate until its fermentation poisons catch up with it and start inhibiting growth. Ginger acts as a buffering agent in small quantities. Very small quantities. A buffering agent controls the pH of the dough. As long as the dough pH remains within a certain range, yeast will continue to grow at an exponential rate. The effect of small amounts of ginger added to the dough can shorten rise time approximately 50 percent. it also improves the quality of the rise, giving smaller, more consistently sized bubbles. The key here is very small quantities. I never use more than a pinch, added to the initial proofing of the yeast mixture.”

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/46323-ginger-in-yeast-breads/

“From Shirley Corriher’s “Cookwise”:

“The old German bakers’ tale about a pinch of ginger was true– certain spices do enhance yeast’s activity. Small amounts of ginger, ground caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and thyme all improve yeast activity. Dry mustard, like salt, strongly inhibits yeast growth.”

Then she goes on to say that a few spices, specifically cinnamon and cloves, improve yeast activity at low levels (for cinnamon, 5 to 10 percent of the weight of the yeast) but at higher levels (equal the weight of the yeast), it “dramatically reduces” yeast activity.

According to the chart in the book, ginger (and I am assuming they are referring to powdered ginger) is not inhibitive, even at equal the weight of the yeast.”

If anyone would know about this, it is this lady who is a bio-chemist and has written two books about baking and cooking. 

Corriher, Shirley O. (1997). CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking. ISBN 0-688-10229-8.

Corriher, Shirley O. (2007). BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking. ISBN 978-1-4165-6078-4.