Food: Science Picture Challenge #2 Dead or Alive?

in #sciencepic7 years ago (edited)

When I first started out learning to bake bread from cookery books, my bread was always flat and as hard as rock. That was until I learnt one simple but crucial trick - testing the yeast to see if it is still alive.
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If you use dead yeast to make bread it won't rise, so you should test to see if the yeast is alive. Activate it with some warm water and a pinch of sugar and in about ten minutes time it should start to bubble.
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So exactly how does the yeast work in bread making? According to one of my favourite baking website

As bread dough is mixed and kneaded, millions of air bubbles are trapped and dispersed throughout the dough. Meanwhile, the yeast in the dough metabolizes the starches and sugars in the flour, turning them into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas. This gas inflates the network of air bubbles, causing the bread to rise. During rising, the yeast divides and multiplies, producing more carbon dioxide. As long as there is ample air and food (carbohydrates) in the dough, the yeast will multiply until its activity is stopped by the oven’s heat.

Here's my dough after is has been mixed and kneaded. Thanks to the yeast, you can see how much is has risen within two hours.
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Now I have shaped my bread rolls and the yeast is still busy working hard.20180119_141410.jpg

Now I just need to wait for 20 minutes before I can dig into freshly baked bread.
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Hand-made buns! Looks so yum😋

You should know what happens when you're craving for food...

thats some good looking bread. Not im hungry thanks. Lol

Drop by for tea sometime! ^_^

All of that looks tasty! I’m so glad you made this post! 😊

I never thought to check my yeast before baking.

Super helpful post! Thanks for sharing! I'll make sure to use this trick next time I'm making anything that uses yeast.

I think if your yeast isn't out of date you will be ok, but it also gives the yeast a head start in the activation process before it gets thrown in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients, that's why I do it every time now

Looks delicious!
It really brings you happiness if your food turns out to be delicious.

Very true, good food = happiness especially if you made it yourself

看起来很好吃(「・ω・)「嘿

你可以開反間菠蘿油店👍👍👍

自己玩下姐!

自製菠蘿包😍

沒辦法,為食😋

Looks really yummy!!!! May be i will give it a short next time xdd
Btw, dont forget to drop your entry to the comment session of the original post

thanks for the reminder!

I haven’t baked in ages. My yeast is probably dead. Good idea for testing it.

And remember to use warm water as well, just dip your finger in it to test it. I was using dead yeast for ages, wasted so much time and effort all those months 😣

Absolutely. I actually do this when I make beer. But I buy the yeast fresh, so it doesn't need to be tested. However, I do put it in some warm water before I'm ready to cast so it gets a head start.