How Does Bread Rise

Have you ever wondered why recipes request for you to keep your bread dough under a towel for a couple hours? Well this allows for a bread to rise! Keep reading to figure out how and why bread dough rise.

Bread raises through the reaction between flour and either yeast or baking powder. For this article, I will be describing the process of yeast since most recipes use yeast.

What Is Yeast?

Yeast is a living organism that is apart of the fungus family. They are already activated in instant yeast. Dry yeast needs to be stimulated through warm water. If you have a recipe that asks for dry yeast, you must first have to mix the yeast in warm water for at least 20 minutes. If you do not do this, you aren’t guaranteed to have bread that rises.

Process of Bread Rising

While you let the dough, the yeast consumes starches and sugars in the flour. In return, it turns them into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas in the form of air bubbles. The alcohol evaporates in the baking process but he carbon dioxide is kept through gluten. The more air bubbles are formed in the dough, the fluffier the baked bread will be. Therefore, bread that is let sit under a towel for longer are more fluffy. The towel is important so that no air is escaped.

Now that you know a little but more about yeast, go bake some bread!

cites:

Ali, Akbar, et al. "Yeast, its types and role in fermentation during bread making process-A." Pakistan Journal of Food Sciences 22.3 (2012): 171-179.

Struyf, Nore, et al. "Bread dough and baker's yeast: An uplifting synergy." Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety 16.5 (2017): 850-867.