The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

coffee syrups in yeast breads?

dlassiter's picture
dlassiter

coffee syrups in yeast breads?

Anyone ever tried that? As in, you know, Monin or Torani syrups? I gather Monin may have traces of alcohol, but a trace of alcohol isn't going to hurt yeast. Mostly cane sugar.

I'm trying to imagine what, say, an amaretto, tamarindo, kiwi, or huckleberry bread would taste like.

My wife thinks it sounds disgusting. Of course, diehard coffee fanatics will think the same.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

the flour tends to dilute the basic flavour.  The bread will come out lighter than the original syrup or fruit yeast water or herb or liquor taste.  It rarely gets stronger in bread.  That's why jam and toppings were discovered.  I'm  not trying to discourage you but you may need more concentrated flavourings if you really love thru and thru flavour power.  

alcophile's picture
alcophile

This coffee diehard says only chocolate (and maybe vanilla) are acceptable additions to coffee. But I do use the raspberry syrup to make a Berliner Weisse rot (20 mL syrup to one 355 mL bottle of Berliner Weisse). The original beer cooler!

I agree with Mini Oven—more concentrated flavor is needed. I made a Swedish Limpa bread a couple of months ago from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. The recipe used either orange zest or orange oil for flavor. I was hesitant to use the full amount of orange oil specified in the recipe because I didn't want the orange flavor to be overpowering. Well, I could barely taste the orange in the finished loaf. I should have used the full amount and even then it would have been subtle.

Another option instead of oil or extracts are dry flavorings available from various companies. I have been wanting to try some for adding to hot cereal when good fruit is not in season. These are available sweetened or unsweetened affording more flexibility in a recipe.

 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

I would imagine that the sugar in the syrup would speed up fermentation quite a bit.

As far as no-calorie or low-calorie syrups, I just read in another post that the artificial sweetener erythritol inhibits yeast. So maybe a combination of the two could work.

Please post your results if you decide to experiment.  It sounds interesting.

alcophile's picture
alcophile

My chemistry curiosity was piqued by the possibility of erythritol inhibition of yeast. I set up the following experiment:

  • Container 1: 2 g sugar
  • Container 2: 2 g sugar + 2 g erythritol
  • Container 3: 2 g erythritol

The solids were dissolved in 52 mL warm water and 0.4 g (1/8th tsp.) SAF Red instant yeast was added at ≈100 °F. The yeast was stirred to dissolve. The following images were taken at ≈20 minutes post-addition.

 

My observation is that the yeast becomes frothy in the presence of sugar and the sugar/erythritol mixture. No activity is observed in the erythritol solution.

Conclusion: Yeast activity does not appear to be inhibited by the presence of erythritol. Yeast does not show any activity with erythritol alone.

 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

Thanks!