Yeast is the principal ingredient which makes bread rise. Yeast is so Important to baking bread it has been cultivated for many, many years. In scientific terms the procedure that is occurring when yeast makes bread rise is known as fermentation. You might be more familiar with the fermentation process as it applies to the making of wine and beer. The final result is very different from a loaf of bread, but the procedure is similar because yeast performs the magic.
Yeast is a single-celled organism with a life cycle that includes a dormant state. This is the reason why we can buy small packets of dry yeast at the grocery store. In its dormant condition yeast is not active. Until the yeast is given the appropriate conditions to grow, it is going to remain in its dormant state and find more info on this website. It cannot wait forever for the correct conditions, so it does have expiration dates. Search for the expiration date before using yeast at a recipe for beer or bread. Do not waste your components on yeast that is beyond its expiration date. It simply would not work as anticipated.
Yeast is brought from its dormant state, known as activating the yeast, by putting it in a liquid. After yeast finds itself in warm and moist conditions it will begin to grow. Like any living organism yeast requires food and shelter to live and develop. Providing yeast with heat and moisture is a type of shield from extreme conditions that could otherwise kill the yeast. Temperatures over 140 degrees Fahrenheit will kill the yeast, while chilly temperatures will slow down its growth to nil. Refrigerator temperatures will keep yeast in its dormant state.
Sugars are food for yeast. In the case of making wine the sugars in grape juice or apple juice are food for yeast. Sugars, which are the building blocks of carbohydrates, are also within the barley mash used to make beer. The dough used to make bread also contains sugars as food for the yeast. Once yeast locates itself in the right conditions to grow, it will multiply or undergo fermentation. In the case of creating beer and wine yeast ferments to produce alcohol.
In other words yeast feeds on the sugars in grape juice to produce wine. It feeds on sugars in barley mash to make beer. The fermentation process in making bread causes the dough to rise. As Yeast ferments to produce carbon dioxide gas, the gas becomes trapped in the dough and this causes the dough to rise. The majority of the rising of the bread is accomplished in the first part of creating the bread. When the yeast is subjected to high oven temperatures, it is going to stop producing gas and then perish.
