Yeast, The Basics

Yeast has been around since, well since people started making bread. Really, it has. You can find talk of yeast in the bible, LEAVEN.

Did you know that yeast is a LIVING ORGANISM?

Did you also know that yeast is used in BREWING?

(I won’t talk too much on that, rather I will talk about the yeast we bake with!)

Yeast is a single celled FUNGUS! It is not like mold or mushrooms. It is microscopic. Wait, then how come I can see those little grains? Well, that is because companies, produce it in granular form for ease of the consumer. Also because it take more than 1 CELL to raise your bread. For those science people, yeast is an egg-shaped cell, and it takes 20 BILLION yeast cells to weigh ONE GRAM (1/28 of an ounce)!

Yeast works by converting sugar and starch into carbon dioxide (CO2) bubbles and alcohol. When you make bread you usually add some sugar or honey and flour, your sugar and starch for the yeast to interact with. This reaction is what causes the bread to rise. The CO2 and alcohol are trapped in the bread dough, having no where to escape to, they expand the dough (they RAISE the dough). The alcohol production in bread is VERY small. This alcohol is burned off as the bread is baked. When bread is baked, the yeast is also ‘killed’ and which is why after baking bread does not continue to rise.

In alcohols, yeast is used to convert the sugar into alcohol and in some bubbles (beer and champagne). Consuming RAW ACTIVE yeast is VERY dangerous. It will continue to grow in your intestines, and you will not be able to receive the nutrients you need. If you are a vegan (pseud-vegan like me, or a health nut), you might of heard of NUTRITIONAL YEAST. This is yeast that has been ‘deactivated’ through pasteurization. 

If you would like to do some experiments, here is a GREAT place for a number of experiments. 

Tomorrow, I will start talking about the different types of yeast! 

References:

--http://www.foodsubs.com/LeavenYeast.html
--http://www.redstaryeast.com/lessons-yeast-baking