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About Yeast

About Yeast — a community recipe on Potlikkr.

Ingredients

• History Biology And Nutrition

Method (preview)

1. 1

   Bread yeasts are one-celled fungi found all around us, in our kitchens and outside, in the air, in the soil, and on grains, fruits and vegetables. People have been capturing and propagating these wild yeasts for thousands of years in sourdough starters. Scientific breeding of our domestic strains of bread yeasts really started with Louis Pasteur in the 1800s.

2. 2

   Bread yeast ferments carbohydrates producing alcohol and carbon dioxide gas in the process. The gas bubbles, trapped within the elastic dough are what make dough rise, giving us light flavorful bread. Flavor and texture are not the only benefits. Yeast itself is an excellent source of B-complex vitamins and Thiamine and the action of fermentation makes grains more digestible (these are good reasons to prefer yeasted breads rather than quick-breads as a daily diet.)