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Submitted by darren1126 on February 20, 2010 - 7:57am Adding sugar and honey.I've read that sugar will "feed the yeast"... I'm not exactly sure what that means. How does sugar affect the rise process, density of the bread, etc.. If I add honey to a recipe that calls for sugar, should I reduce the amount of sugar? Also, does milk and butter cause bread to be more dense? What's the benefits to adding milk and butter? I've made bread with and without and I don't notice too much of a flavor difference. The biggest difference I find is in the texture.
Thank you!
Darren
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Hi Darren, lots of question
Hi Darren,
lots of question in there!
Sugar has a variety of roles. First, it is the energy source of yeast in the same way it is for you. Of course there is no particular reason to be wanting to feed yeast, except that when you do, they "breathe" out carbon dioxide, which makes bread nice and light with all those air bubbles. (Look up fermentation on wikipedia or something)
sugar ---> alcohol + carbon dioxide
If you don't put sugar in your bread, the yeast will still do its thing, because it can break down the starch in the flour to make sugars, but adding sugar speeds this up.
If you add too much sugar though, the yeast won't like it, for the same reason yeast won't grow in your jam jars. I don't know offhand how much sugar is too much though.
In terms of texture, sugar makes the bread softer and helps it to keep longer, partly because it absorbs moisture from the air. During kneading, it might make the dough a bit sticky.
If I was adding honey to a recipe that already had sugar, I might reduce the sugar to compensate. Honey is about 80% sugar by wieght.
Milk and butter can change the taste, though in small quantities it is subtle. They also enrich the bread and make it more nutritious, which is less important to us than to pheasant farmers who needed the calories.
In addition to this, they improve the keeping properties - either by absorbing moisture from the air, or taking adding a type of fluid that will not evaporate.
Butter and other fats shorten the gluten strands, and will alter the texture accordingly. For eg. you would have trouble getting those nice big holes in a bread with lots of butter. It will be more of a cakey texture. It shouldn't necessarily make it denser though.
Hope thats useful to you!
Cheers
J
some effects from sugar
Hi Darren,
I made some reference to use of a sweetener in dough on my blog the other day. This was specifically for molasses, but some comments apply to generic effects of using a sweetener in dough. This is the link: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16273/carawy-rye-bread-black-strap-molasses-superwet-ciabatta-too#comment-105262
A small note about use of sugar to kickstart yeast. Yes this is true, but too much sugar [8% and over, on flour] will depress yeast activity. Think of it like this: if you are a little low on energy, you may wish to munch on a banana for a burst of energy. If you've just dined on an indulget 4 course dinner, then the last thing you want to do is go out running.
Best wishes
Andy
Honey
I have found that adding honey makes for a darker crust
Honey -- darker crust
Adding sugar and/or honey creates a darker crust -- as the sugar[s] caramelize. Got to be careful not to let a dark crust -- due to sugar -- trick you into thinking the bread is fully baked.
~ B