Monday, February 16, 2009

Yeast, the baking kind

Have you ever wondered what yeast (the kind used in baking) really is?? Is it a bug? Is it a plant? What is it?? So I hit the internet to find out.

I found a really great site that gave me the info I was looking for.

Did you know that yeast is a micro-organism? Its a tiny plant basically. Of course most people know it needs water to become active and it feeds on sugar. But did you know that salt slows it down?? Soo on those days that my bread just doesn't raise well, I wonder if it's because I sometimes add my salt at the same time as the yeast. I add my yeast, water, sugar and salt all at once. It depends on how much of a hurry I'm in. Soo from now on I will make a point to add my yeast, sugar and water first, after it is 'active' or fluffy I will than add my salt, oil and flour. Just thought I would pass that on..

Here's 2 sites that we found very helpful.

http://homecooking.about.com/od/specificfood/a/yeast.htm

http://www.breadworldcanada.com/sciencehistory/science.asp

2 comments:

the nightingale said...

O.K. I "cheat" here. My mom in law got me a breadmaker I use somtimes. I used to make it from scratch without the breadmaker. Sometimes it turned out great most times not. Yeast is a funny thing to get just right.

Jen said...

LOL, I agree with the yeast being a funny thing. It's great when it works, but can be a tad picky. I used to have a bread machine, but eventually gave it away. It just doesn't taste the same. I even used the same recipe. Something about the work that's put into it I guess..

I have a big kitchen aid mixer that kneads it for me too, I only roll it out. That helps ALOT, wouldn't trade if for anything.

Thanks for your reply