Some recipes ask you to "proof" the yeast, in which you put the yeast in some liquid, add some sugar and sometimes flour in a bowl, let it sit in a warm place, and wait to see if the mixture produces bubbles (that means the yeast is alive and growing). Let me know if you want to get information on doing that and I will find it for you. Most recipes can be modified to let you put the proofed yeast mixture into the dough with the liquids and continue the directions from there.
I am excited that you want to learn to bake bread! I just realized that I learned how to make bread back in the 1970s, and it's neat to share my knowledge. It's very rewarding and different from store-bought bread. Yummm!
My granddaughter and I are going to learn how together.
About your yeast.
You will have less failure if you buy it in the bulk and keep it in the freezer, I take out a couple ounces and then keep it in the refrigerator.
A rounded tablespoon is one of the yeast packets.
I have used frozen yeast 10 years after it expired, kept in the freezer, needed to add a little more, but it made bread and was all that I had to work with, couldn’t afford to go and buy it at the time.
Nichols garden nursery did sell a nice yeast by the pound.
Walton Feed.com sells the SAF yeast and it is cheap $5.00 or so per pound and it is the same as those $8.00 4 ounce jars of bread machine yeast, has ascorbic acid added, that is the only difference between bread machine and regular.
When I first bought the SAF brand yeast, I was not sure if I needed to know something ‘else’ about it and asked on the Mormon Ladies group at the LDS Church, found that they all use it and nothing else.
You will find it in some of the warehouse stores.