Cooking Tips Information

Understanding Baking: How Yeast Works


Did you ever wonder why flour tastes like sawdust but a French or Italian bread made with that same flour and little else has a pleasant, sweet taste?

Bread wouldn't be bread without yeast and yeast can't work without sugars. Yeast is alive-living organisms-and living organisms need food for fuel, in this case, simple sugars. But flour is mostly starch and table sugar (sucrose) is too complex for the yeast before fermentation. Amylase and invertase, enzymes present in the flour or created by the yeast, break down the starch molecules into sugars. Some of these simple sugar molecules become food for the yeast; others create the sweet flavor we find in a fine bread-even a French bread where there is no sugar added.

As the yeast feeds on the sugar, it creates two digestive byproducts-alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is what leavens the bread-carbon dioxide gases filter through the dough creating loft. The alcohol is evaporated in baking.

The biological and chemical actions taking place as the bread ages and rises are called fermentation. Generally, a long, slow fermentation makes for better flavor, texture, and moisture retention. Many fine breads call for "retarding" or slowing down the growth of the yeast with refrigeration. If dough is refrigerated, the yeast grows more slowly. Fermentation still takes place as the amylase enzymes work within the dough and sugar is released albeit at a slower rate. When the dough is warmed and the growth of the yeast takes off, there is plenty of sugar present for the yeast and an excess of sugar to sweeten the bread.

When yeast grows more slowly, we find the richer, fuller flavor of breads made with retarded dough. In the previous article, we discussed a focaccia that uses refrigeration to slow down the growth of the yeast and create the desired crumb and flavor. Is it a good bread without retarding? Yes, but retarding does give it desirable flavor overtones and a more open crumb.

Read on for the printable version of How Yeast Works >>

This article was taken from About Baking: Ingredients and How They Work and is available free for download.

© 2004, The Prepared Pantry


MORE RESOURCES:

Energy saving cooking tips
Northern Daily News, Canada - 18 hours ago
What can we do with little money to promote energy conservation and efficiency? The answer is really quite simple --time equals energy. ...


Taste of Home cooking tips
FayObserver.com, NC - Nov 11, 2008
Instructor Michelle Roberts offered the following cooking tips: If you chop anything that leaves a strong odor, such as garlic, washing your hands won’t get ...


Hormel launches interactive Web site with cooking tips
Post-Bulletin, MN - Nov 3, 2008
By Tim Ruzek Hormel Foods. Corp. has launched its first Web site dedicated to the company's largest brand -- Hormel. This morning, the Austin-based company ...
Hormel Website Offers Interactive Experience KAALtv.com
Hormel launches Web site with cooking tips Post-Bulletin
all 5 news articles


Parade Magazine

a Diabetes-Friendly Thanksgiving
Parade Magazine - 8 hours ago
To view video highlights from these makeovers and to download B.'s diabetes-friendly recipes and cooking tips, visit www.JourneyForControl.com . ...


Examiner.com

Buying your Thanksgiving turkey
Examiner.com - Nov 17, 2008
... is a little different from the turkey you may be used to. Be sure to check out these tips in preparation: http://www.cavenyfarm.com/CookingTips.php.


Gordon Ramsay dishes out cooking tips
Ealing Times, UK - Oct 26, 2008
STAFF at an award-winning Southall restaurant have been giving a top celebrity chef lessons on creating the perfect curry. Gordon Ramsay spent 12 hours ...


Helpful Hands make donations
Reporter-Times, IN - 13 hours ago
Juanita Wesseler gave a lesson on no calorie sweetners and baking and cooking tips on using them in recipes. A “Sweet Cheat Sheet” was given to each club ...


Stuffing or Dressing? By Either Name, 48% of Survey Respondents ...
MarketWatch - Nov 20, 2008
... for cooks of all skill levels seeking trusted recipes, entertaining ideas, everyday and holiday meal solutions, practical cooking tips and food advice. ...


Looking back
SunJournal.com, ME - 19 hours ago
So there's probably no doubt that the late founder of the world-famous outdoors outfitter in Freeport would have benefited from the cooking tips contained ...


Local Author Amelia Painter to be Featured at Book Fair
Emailwire - Nov 19, 2008
Also found in the cookbook are easy to follow recipe notes with helpful cooking tips, fun stories, comments for using the recipe, and cooking tips from the ...

Cooking-Tips - Google News

home | site map
© 2006