Why does bread expand in the oven is a very good question and we want to find an answer in this article.
Bread is made by cooking a mixture of water, flour, yeast, and a tiny bit of salt. This mixture is then allowed to rise. If we combine the flour and water, we will end up with a sticky paste, but if we continue to knead the mixture, we will end up with a dough that is elastic and moldable.
How is it possible that a combination that is virtually exactly the same as the one that is used to paste paper may also be used to make a delicious loaf of bread?
I think it would be best to begin with a basic encounter. A tiny plastic bag, half a cup of warm water, one spoonful of baking powder, and sugar are all that is required of you (1 tablespoon).
Table of Contents
How to make bread?
Before we find out the anser to the question: Why does bread expand in the oven, we want to find out how to make bread in the first place:
- Sugar should be dissolved in the cup using the warm water.
- After adding the yeast, make sure it is dissolved completely with the spoon.
- After you have added the mixture to the bag and secured it, be sure to avoid trapping any air within.
- What do you see after five and twenty minutes have passed?
Why does bread expand in the oven?
Yeasts, also known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are unicellular fungi that consume carbohydrates and produce carbon dioxide and ethanol as waste products during the fermentation process. Yeasts are responsible for the production of alcohol.
Because there is no oxygen in the environment once the bag has been sealed, the yeast has no choice except to get energy in this manner. As time passes, we observe the bag gradually expanding as a result of the accumulation of the gas carbon dioxide.
This capability of yeasts is utilized, albeit to a lesser extent, in the production of beer, wine, and bread, each of which serves a distinct function. In our situation, this is done so that the volume of the finished loaves is increased as a result of the accumulation of gas in the dough. Why does bread expand in the oven can be answered like that.
Bread is traditionally made with wheat flour because, when the dough is kneaded, gluten may be produced from the wheat flour. Gluten is a large protein that is produced when proteins known as “gliadins” and “glutenins” are hydrated and kneaded together.
This creates a network that will contain the starch granules, which are the primary component of flour, and will allow for the expansion and retention of gases.
Gluten can be found in wheat, rye, barley, and other grains. In addition, it has a trace amount of sugars, specifically maltose and glucose, as well as water and enzymes, which are molecules that have the ability to initiate chemical reactions. These enzymes have the ability to break down starch into maltose and glucose, which can then be used by yeast as a food source.
When the dough is placed in the oven, carbon dioxide is produced because its solubility in the dough diminishes with the increase in temperature. This results in the formation of bubbles inside the dough. Carbon dioxide is primarily dissolved in the aqueous environment during fermentation.
Because the volume of each gas rises with temperature (at the same pressure), and because they include a significant quantity of water vapor, they continue to expand as the temperature continues to climb. This is due to the fact that the volume of each gas increases with temperature.
Because of this, in addition to the flexibility that gluten provides, the dough will expand as it bakes, giving the bread a look similar to that of a sponge on the interior. When the temperature inside hits 45 degrees, the yeasts are killed, the enzymes in their cells are deactivated, and gas production comes to an end.
At a temperature of sixty degrees, it forms the final structure by coagulating the gluten and gelatinizing the starches.
Conclussion
If you asked yourself: Why does bread expand in the oven, we have the anser for you: It is because the yeasts produces gases inside the bread.
