Fermentation Adds Pleasure to Our Diet

Chemistry, Food
[caption id="attachment_23185" align="alignright" width="480"] Sausages, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut.[/caption] When most people think of fermentation, they think of fruits rich in sugar, or of potatoes or other starches. In most cases, they are thinking in terms of alcoholic beverages, Grog! But it is not limited alcoholic beverages. For instance, did you know sauerkraut, coffee and chocolate are made utilizing fermentation? Let's Define Fermentation When yeast converts sugar, it yields alcohol plus carbon dioxide gas. When yeast is used to bake bread, the alcohol and the gas cause the bread to rise. But alcohol in beverages, involves no cooking. The alcohol must be "disposed of" in a different way! Now yeast is a budding, single-cell fungus. So fungus can serve a useful purpose. And what about sauerkraut?1 The fermentation of sauerkraut…
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Yeast and Baking Powder Bread Dough

Chemistry, Food
[caption id="attachment_6469" align="alignright" width="440"] CC-SA 3.0 by Lou Sander[/caption] Have you ever made dough with yeast and baking powder? Bread is one of the staples of life. Some translations of the Bible read, "Give us this day our daily bread." Most bread is leavened bread. Leavening refers to an ingredient or ingredients designed to raise and lighten bread, through the incorporation of tiny gas bubbles throughout the dough. Dough rises through two mechanisms, employing yeast and baking powder. The first is a biological process, the second is a chemical process. Either procedure results in a delicious, decidedly edible product. Yeast Rolls Yeast rolls and other breads are raised by means of microscopic animals called yeast. Yeast combines oxygen from the air with carbohydrates such as glucose sugar to produce carbon…
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