Hm, I wonder if that's local to your region? In the countries I've in in Europe, I've always followed the recipes exactly regarding all ingredients, including yeast, and made good stuff, even with different brands of yeast. Or simply my taste buds are terrible.
This is probably because most recipes specify more yeast than is truly required. Yeast is generally quite forgiving, you can use a lot more than required before experiencing side effects. It becomes less forgiving the longer you ferment your dough, if you are fermenting for several days then you can't get away with blasting the dough with yeast, in any case the problem isn't taste but the texture of the final product.
