Food Lab Narrative
I sat at my table, glancing at the bubbles appearing in my yeast starter. I had been growing this for a number of days, and progressively more and more bubbles had began appearing. I couldn't help but ponder, what was actually going on in there? Is this starter actually living? If so, how does it live off of just water and flour?
Little did I know, there were little microorganisms (microbes) growing in my yeast. These microorganisms were living off of the oxygen and yeast in the jar. This process is called Alcohol Fermentation. They take the sugars from the yeast and the oxygen in the jar, and used them to gain energy. The waste products from this reaction is carbon dioxide, and ethanol. The bubbles appearing in my starter were from the carbon dioxide being released by the microbes. The carbon dioxide would get trapped in the starter, forming the bubbles. This is why when I would open my jar, I could hear air rush out. Also, the sour smell was coming from the ethanol the microbes were releasing.
This process of starters for bread dates back to five thousand years ago.Egypt is where it is believed this process was first discovered, most likely by a baker who could have fallen asleep while the dough sat out. No one knew why bread would rise like this. Egyptians thought Gods would put something into the dough to make it rise. Eventually, in 1859, Louis Pasteur, a German scientist, became the first person to truly discover microbes. Before his studies, fermentation was thought to purely be a chemical reaction. Pasteur, through studies with wine, beer, and bread, discovered that a living organism was involved in this process- the microbe.
Just a few years after this discovery, scientists found out how to grow colonies of isolated microbes. In the 1890s, this was put into the commercial production of yeast by Charles and Maximilian Fleischmann. Their company, called Fleischmann, developed the first dry yeast. This was in the form of a powder inside of a small packet. It could be stored for years, put into water and brought back to life.
Centuries later, here I sit staring at my jar filled with my yeast starter. Some say growing your own yeast makes the best bread there is. It produces the most nutritious wheat, and tastes the best. I can only wait to imagine what this bread tastes like, as my yeast is not yet ready for cooking. In just a few days, my yeast will be ready for baking, and I can taste the flavors that ancient Egyptians once experienced.
I sat at my table, glancing at the bubbles appearing in my yeast starter. I had been growing this for a number of days, and progressively more and more bubbles had began appearing. I couldn't help but ponder, what was actually going on in there? Is this starter actually living? If so, how does it live off of just water and flour?
Little did I know, there were little microorganisms (microbes) growing in my yeast. These microorganisms were living off of the oxygen and yeast in the jar. This process is called Alcohol Fermentation. They take the sugars from the yeast and the oxygen in the jar, and used them to gain energy. The waste products from this reaction is carbon dioxide, and ethanol. The bubbles appearing in my starter were from the carbon dioxide being released by the microbes. The carbon dioxide would get trapped in the starter, forming the bubbles. This is why when I would open my jar, I could hear air rush out. Also, the sour smell was coming from the ethanol the microbes were releasing.
This process of starters for bread dates back to five thousand years ago.Egypt is where it is believed this process was first discovered, most likely by a baker who could have fallen asleep while the dough sat out. No one knew why bread would rise like this. Egyptians thought Gods would put something into the dough to make it rise. Eventually, in 1859, Louis Pasteur, a German scientist, became the first person to truly discover microbes. Before his studies, fermentation was thought to purely be a chemical reaction. Pasteur, through studies with wine, beer, and bread, discovered that a living organism was involved in this process- the microbe.
Just a few years after this discovery, scientists found out how to grow colonies of isolated microbes. In the 1890s, this was put into the commercial production of yeast by Charles and Maximilian Fleischmann. Their company, called Fleischmann, developed the first dry yeast. This was in the form of a powder inside of a small packet. It could be stored for years, put into water and brought back to life.
Centuries later, here I sit staring at my jar filled with my yeast starter. Some say growing your own yeast makes the best bread there is. It produces the most nutritious wheat, and tastes the best. I can only wait to imagine what this bread tastes like, as my yeast is not yet ready for cooking. In just a few days, my yeast will be ready for baking, and I can taste the flavors that ancient Egyptians once experienced.