Yeast is used in baking as a leavening agent, which is what makes bread and pastry light and airy. Yeast reacts with moisture, sugar and heat to create bubbles of carbon dioxide which causes the dough to expand and rise. When the dough is baked, the air pockets created from the yeast remains giving the baked product a spongy texture.
Yeast is alive. To grow, it needs sugar or starch, moisture and a moderately warm environment. If your yeast has been round for a while, test to make sure it’s alive before working with it. Heat a half a cup of water to approximately 100 degrees. Pour it over the yeast and stir. Add a pinch of sugar so the yeast has something to eat. After five minutes if the yeast is alive, you’ll see a creamy foam floating on the surface of the water. If you don’t see any foam for 10 minutes, the yeast is dead. Try again with new yeast.
To make bread, first combine active yeast with flour to create a dough. Kneading helps bread to develop structure and evenly distributes the yeast throughout the dough. When the dough rises, the yeast is making enough carbon dioxide so that the bread has plenty of air pockets and is light when baked.
After kneading, let the dough rise in a warm area. To prevent the forming of a hard surface on the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or place a kitchen towel directly on the surface of the dough. Most recipes require the dough to double its size, which usually takes a few hours. The rate of the rice depends on the activity of the yeast. After the dough doubles its size, punch it down and let it rise again. A second rise can give better flavor and texture.
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