CHAPTER IX 



BREAD RAISING; FERMENTED LIQUORS 

 What is Bread Raising ? 



The method by which yeast makes bread light is very 

 simple and easily understood. There is present in the 



bread dough, at the start, a 

 small amount of sugar which 

 comes from the flour ; but 

 there is, in addition, a con- 

 siderable quantity of starch, 

 and with the starch there is 

 also present in the flour a 

 small amount of a material 

 known as diastase. By the 

 action of this diastase in 

 the dough, part of the starch 

 is converted into sugar. 

 Thus there is present in 

 the dough, after it is mixed, 

 a sufficient quantity of sugar 

 to furnish proper ferment- 

 able material for the yeast. 

 The baker mixes the fresh, active yeast with the dough, 

 and places the whole in a warm place where the yeast 

 will be stimulated into active growth (Fig. 41). 



104 



Fig. 41. Recently mixed dough in- 

 oculated with yeast, but before 

 the yeast has grown. 



