Our Bread Project

Over the past several days, we have attempted to create a bread recipe that will rise above the others. Through the process of cellular respiration, we have made a recipe that will create the fluffiest bread. If you follow these simple steps, then you will achieve the success that we have foundered over the past week.

Today, on March 8, we had our first attempt at making bread from scratch! For our recipe we are using 120-130 degree water (4 teaspoons), 1/4 teaspoon of yeast, ⅙  teaspoon of sugar, ½ cup of flour, and ⅛ teaspoon of salt. The first step in the recipe is to add ¼ teaspoon of yeast into a baggie along with ¼ cup of flour.

Then add ⅙  teaspoon of sugar and the ⅛ teaspoon of salt into the same baggie. Heat 5 tablespoons of water to a temperature between 120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit using a hotplate or a microwave. Add the warmed water into the baggie at a constant rate. After all the contents are in the baggy, close the bag tightly and mix thoroughly. After mixing, let the contents in the baggy let the mixture sit for 10 to 15 minutes.

Mix in the remaining ¼ cup of flour into the mixture in the baggie. The contents in the bad should become dough-like. The bag should also begin to slowly fill with air, because of the CO2 being created within it. This occurs as a byproduct of yeast using anaerobic respiration.

 Take the ball of dough out of the bag. Knead the dough for one and a half minutes. Roll the dough into a ball. Place the dough under a light source and allow the dough to rise for 25 minutes.

 5 Minutes:    10 Minutes:    15 Minutes:    20 Minutes:  25 Minutes: 

There is an entire process behind the rising and creation of bread. The ability to rise is created through a process called cellular respiration. The chemical equation of cellular respiration follows; C6H12O6 + 6O2 yields to 6H20 + 6CO2 + ATP, or energy. However, this type of respiration does not create energy, or ATP, like aerobic respiration. Aerobic respiration is not important in the process of bread rising, as aerobic respiration  creates energy, or ATP, which is not needed. Anaerobic respiration creates a gas as a byproduct, which allows the bread to rise. The chemical equation of cellular respiration is the following; C6H12O6 + 6O2 yields to 6C2H602 + 6CO2.  This anaerobic respiration and it occurs when there is a lack of oxygen, which there is when bread is created. This lack of oxygen creates fermentation of ethyl alcohol, which is only found in plants. As yeast is a single cellular plant, this process occurs while bread is rising and being produced. However, this anaerobic process can also occur in animals as well, but there are different results. This result does produce the fermentation of alcohol, instead a fermentation of lactic acid, which can cause sore muscles in all animals. However, the rising of bread only occurs when the yeast is activated and can gain energy. Yeast is activated when the water between 120 and 130 degree water is added to the yeast and flour mix. Once the yeast has been activated, glucose or  sugar is needed in order to activate the process of anaerobic respiration. The salt is responsible for activating the enzymes in the flour and sugar, speeding up the process of the bread rising, or the anaerobic respiration of the yeast.

The final result of our bread was not exactly what we were expecting but it wasn’t a complete fail. The bread did in fact rise and harden around and surface but the inside was still very doughy. We believe that the reason the bread did not rise as much as we wanted to and was still doughy after 25 minutes of baking was because we added too much sugar. If too much sugar is present, then the process of bread rising is slower than that if the right amount of sugar is present. This occurs because sugar provides food for the yeast, which is needed in order for anaerobic respiration. This process is responsible for the rise of bread. In short words, sugar has the ability to harm or help the speed in which a loaf of bread can rise. In or next recipe we are only going to change the amount of sugar we added to the dough. We are expecting our bread to rise even more than it did yesterday with our first try by slightly changing the amount of sugar present.

However, after one day of success, our bread failed to rise on the second day, despite trying several times. Despite the several factors that could have harmed this, one that would have directly affected it would have been the environment. The amount of light in which we put the bread under was slightly less, leading to the bread to not as rise as much. We even tired changing the recipe to make the bread rise even more.

Today was our second try at baking our ideal bread. We changed the recipe slightly to try and solve the problems we encountered yesterday. For our recipe today we are using 120-130 degree water (4 teaspoons), 1/4 teaspoon of yeast, ¼  teaspoon of sugar, ½ cup of flour, and ⅛ teaspoon of salt. We have the same exact procedure as yesterday. The first step in the recipe is to add ¼ teaspoon of yeast into a baggie along with ¼ cup of flour. Then add ¼  teaspoon of sugar and the ⅛ teaspoon of salt into the same baggie.

Heat 4 tablespoons of water to a temperature between 120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit using a hotplate or a microwave and add it to the baggy. Add the warmed water into the baggie at a constant rate. After all the contents are in the baggy, close the bag tightly and mix thoroughly. After mixing, let the contents in the baggy set for let the mixture sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Mix in the remaining ¼ cup of flour into the mixture in the baggie.

The contents in the bad should become dough-like and the bag should rise from the CO2 being created inside. Take the ball of dough out of the bag. Knead the dough for one and a half minutes. Roll the dough into a ball. Place the dough under a light source and allow the dough to rise for 25 minutes.

5 Minutes:  10 Minutes:  15 Minutes:  20 Minutes:  25 Minutes: 

After seeing the results of our second attempt at creating our ideal bread, we still were not satisfied with the outcome. Despite the failure on the second day, our recipe would still prove to create the fluffiest of bread. However, the lesson learned from this would be that the environment in which you bake can directly affect the result of the bread. However, upon tasting the bread, our bread was very dense in the center and did not have much of a taste, as it did not include much salt and sugar. These two ingredients helped to create a flavor that cannot be forgotten, which our bread did not posses. The last piece of feedback that involves our bread would be the small quantity and time in which we created the bread is not enough to determine whether or not or bread would stand the test of time, as it takes longer to bake and rise.