AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS SCHOOL

Bread Fermentation
by Yeast
Fermentation Investigation
By Jasmin Malhotra
Team: Meg Leeson and Kaitlin Chadwick
TG18 Kay Gillett
Marking Teacher: John Drew
Due: 12th September 2014
Biotechnology: BioProcessing
NON-SACE Report

Introduction
Fermentation is a natural process in which chemicals are broken down by
bacteria, yeasts or other microorganisms, commonly involving effervescence i
and the production of heat (Google.com.au, 2014).
Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch tradesman in the 17 th century developed highqualit lenses which enabled him to observe yeast for the first time. He
discovered that yeast contained globules floating a fluid, but he thought they
were just the starchy particles of the grain from which wort (the liquid obtained
from brewing beer and whiskey) was made. Later on in 1755, yeast was defined
in the Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson as the ferment put
into a drink to make it work; and into bread to lighten and swell it (Barnett,
2014).
Yeast is a micro-organism that ferments. It is a living plant that breathes and
grows. It serves as a catalyst in the process of fermentation. When yeast
ferments, it breaks down the glucose (CHO) into ethanol (CHCHOH) and
Carbon Dioxide (CO). For thousands of years, the Carbon dioxide has been used
in baking and the alcohol in alcoholic beverages.

Aim
To explore which amount of yeast causes the bread to rise the most volume, this
will be measured by the amount of water displaced.

Hypotheses
An increase in yeast will cause an increase in water displacement.

Variables
Independent: The yeast
Dependant: Water displacement
Constants:

Temperature
Amount of sugar in each batch of bread
The amount of flour
The amount of water to start with, in the Ice cream container
Amount of time in the oven

Materials

600g of flour
16g of yeast

4 x 1000ml plastic beakers

4 x 500ml beakers

2m of gladwrap
500ml of de-mineralised water
2 tsp of Salt
4 tsp of Butter
4 wooden spoons
12 mini weigh boats
4 large weigh boats
Plastic sifter/strainer
Board or baking tray
4 mixing bowls (metal) or 2
small baking trays
Cooking oil
4L Large Ice cream container
4 labels
4 x 1000ml measuring cylinder
2 tbs of sugar

Method
1. Collect 150g of flour in 4 separate 500ml beakers.
2. Collect 125ml of water in 4 separate 1000ml beakers.
3. Collect and measure 1g, 2g, 4g, and 8g of yeast in mini plastic weigh
boats trays.
4. Collect tbs of sugar in 4 large plastic weigh boats.
5. Collect tsp of salt in 4 separate mini weigh boats.
6. Collect 1 tsp of butter in 4 separate mini weigh boats.
7. Place all ingredients on bench top.
8. In a 1000ml beaker combine 125ml of water with 1g of yeast and leave
aside for 10 minutes.

Figure 1: When all ingredients are placed on the bench top and the yeast had been
added to the water

9. In a separate 5000ml beaker sift together 150g of flour and tsp of salt,
stir in tbs of sugar and rub in 1 tsp of butter.
10.Slowly add the dry flour mixture to the water mixture, mix with a wooden
spoon to form a firm dough.
11.Turn dough onto lightly floured board and knead until elastic (5 minutes).
12.Place dough into oiled bowls or baking trays and stand in a warm position
until dough has doubled in size.
13.Set the different sets of dough overnight in a warm area.
14.Repeat steps 8-12 for all different measurements of yeast.
15.Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius.
16.Place into oven for 30-40 minutes.
17.When the bread is baked, when knocked, it should sound hollow.

18.Wrap each batch of bread in glad wrap (maybe double wrap). Label each
with the amount of yeast in it.

Figure 2: After the bread was baked

19.Place a large tray onto the bench top.

20.Fill a large 4L ice cream container with regular tap water to the brim and

place it in the tray.

Figure 3: Beginning of water displacement

21.Very carefully pour this into a large 1000ml measuring cylinder and record
this number for later purposes, then pour it back into the ice cream
container.
22.Place the bread with 1g of yeast carefully into the ice cream container
until it has been completely submerged within the water.
23.Measure the water in the tray using 1000ml measuring cylinder (the water
displaced).
24.Record this number for results.
25.Repeat steps 21-23 for all different amounts of yeast.

Results
Amount of yeast in bread (g)
1
2
4
8

Water displacement
Amount of water displaced (ml)
470
510
540
610

Figure 4: The results after the Investigation was complete

Figure 5: This shows the results put into a table to show the Relationship between the
amount of yeast in bread and the water displacement

Discussion
Changes in temperature, pressure and concentration are all physical changes
that can take place. A chemical reaction is also a chemical change that helps in
converting one substance into another. The chemical reaction completed in this
investigation is the fermentation of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide by
yeast. This is the fundamental step to making bread dough. Before most bread
doughs get baked, they require time to rise, in this case it was left overnight
before it was baked. This is also the time when fermentation takes place.
The time in which the yeast converts the sugar in the flour and dough into
carbon dioxide and alcohol is the fermentation process. Carbon dioxide is what
human breathe out and plants take in. In bread, carbon dioxide supplies the light,
airy texture of bread by leaving gas pockets inside the dough. The alcohol
produces the main taste in the finished bread. This is why sometimes bread
dough smells like beer. Since the alcohol is evaporated off during the baking
process, alcohol is not consumed when the bread is eaten. At the same time,

during the baking process, the high temperatures kill any living yeast cells left in
the bread dough.
The chemical equation that represents this experiment:
CHOaq)

Yeast

2CO(g) + 2CHOH(g)

For baking bread, an optimum amount of yeast to flour ratio is 2 tsp of yeast
to3-4 cups of flour. In other units 12.32g of yeast to 476g of flour. In this
investigation, 1, 2, 4 and 8g of yeast was used to 150g of flour. If the bread with
the 1g of yeast in it with the 150g of flour:
12.32g yeast | 476g flour
1g of yeast

| 150g flour

The 12.32g has to be turned to 1g so it is divided by itself

476 needs to be divided by 12.32g
476/12.32 = 38.64g
Then 150g needs to be divided by 38.66
150/38.64 = 3.88
Compared to the optimum amount of yeast against flour ratio, in this
investigation 3.88 x more flour per gram of yeast was used or 3.88 x less yeast
per gram of flour was used.
Yeast cells are a group of single-cell fungi that quickly reproduce in the correct
conditions. Yeast requires a form of sugar as food and a damp environment to
grow in.
The Investigation was completed but with mistakes along the way. The results
clearly show that the amount of yeast that caused the bread to displace the most
water had 8g of yeast.
It is believed that the results collected can be accurate but also cannot be
accurate. Even though they seem accurate, does not mean they are.
(Blowers.chee.arizona.edu, 2014)

Evaluation
This Investigation could be improved in many ways. To complete this
Investigation, it had to be done twice. The first time went wrong because it was
mixed using a stirring rod and it was not in the form of dough. It was already
known it was done wrong; because it was left overnight for over 24 hours it did
not have a very pleasant smell. It had risen, however since it was left for over 10

minutes, it deflated. This was obviously unusable and therefore had to be done a
second time.
When the bread was being placed into the water, the gladwrap didnt do much so
when the bread was taken out of the water, it was all soaked. This caused the
results to be inaccurate since some of the water got soaked into the bread
instead of dripping out into the tray.
To improve this Investigation, the amount of yeast in each batch needs to be
remembered throughout doing the practical. So maybe label the metal bowls
with a marker or something that is oven safe. Also to make sure the Practical did
not have to be done a second time, a mixing spoon should have been used
instead of a stirring rod. Also the dough should have been left only for 10
minutes, rather than over 24 hours. Also to improve the setting out, if better
images had been taken, it would have made it much easier to explain the results.

Conclusion
Based on the results found in this Investigation, the aim was achieved and the
Hypothesis was true. The amount of yeast which caused the batch of bread to
displace the most amount of water had 8g of yeast. Therefore an increase in
yeast will cause an increase in water displacement.

Bibliography
Google.com.au, (2014). Google. [online] Available at:
https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chromeinstant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF8#q=what+is+fermentation&safe=active [Accessed 2 Sep. 2014].
Barnett, J. (2014). Yeast, Fermentation, Beer, Wine | Learn Science at Scitable.
[online] Nature.com. Available at:
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/yeast-fermentation-and-the-making-ofbeer-14372813 [Accessed 9 Sep. 2014].
Hall, S. (2014). Fermentation. [online] The Science of Bread Making. Available at:
http://www.thescienceofbreadmaking.com/fermentation.html [Accessed 8 Sep.
2014].
Blowers.chee.arizona.edu, (2014). Bread. [online] Available at:
http://blowers.chee.arizona.edu/cooking/kinetics/bread.html [Accessed 8 Sep.
2014].

i Bubbles in liquid (fizz) https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chromeinstant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=effervescence&safe=active