My research question is which leavening agent rises the most. My group and I had to make sourdough while there were other groups creating yeast bread and a baking soda bread. There are multiple factors to consider with bread, especially since each of the recipes are meant to be as similar as possible. One of these ideas is that the leavening agents determined whether the bread that was baked could be considered an experimental group (a group with one new factor) or a controlled group (a group that has already been tested and known). If you do not know what a leavening agent is, it is a bacteria or substance that causes the expansion of dough by eating gluten or sugar, and releasing CO2. They could either be known as biological leavening agents (natural) or chemical leavening agents. In these circumstances, the controlled group would have to be the yeast bread, since most of us already know that yeast is normally put in bread, while the experimental groups would have to be baking soda and sourdough, since for the most part, we don’t know how they are going to function, as well as it is unnatural compared to the yeast. Since I already know that yeast is a very high functioning leavening agent, I believe that yeast will most likely be the one to rise the most between the three breads. I also believe this because in order for the baking powder to work, there needs to be several acids, and there aren’t many acidic components in the flour or any of the other ingredients. Also the sourdough starter is nothing but water and flour that has been lying out for days, and doesn’t have much of any biological agent in it. Of course, I could be wrong, but we will just have to see. In conclusion, my hypothesis is that if the flour is mixed with yeast, then the yeast bread will rise the most due to the fact that the baking soda doesn’t have acids to support the chemical reaction, and that the sourdough wouldn’t work since it doesn’t have the right components,in my opinion.
Ingredients
Sourdough: Original recipe multiplied by ¼ ● 4 cups of water X ¼ = 1 cup of water ● 10 cups of flour X ¼ =2 ½ cups of flour ● 3 ½ teaspoons of salt X ¼ =.875 teaspoons or ⅞ teaspoons of salt ● ¾ cup of sourdough starter X ¼ =.187 cups or 3 tablespoons or 3/16 cups of sourdough starter Yeast Bread:Original recipe multiplied by ¼ ● 3 cups of water X ¼ = ¾ cup of water ● 7 cups of flour X ¼ = 1.75 or 1 ¾ cups of flour ● 1 tablespoon of salt X ¼ = ¼ tablespoon of salt ● 1 ½ cups of yeast X ¼ = ⅜ tablespoon of yeast Baking Powder: Original Recipe multiplied by 1 ● 3 ½ cups of flour
● 2 cups of buttermilk ● 1 teaspoon of baking soda ● 1 teaspoon of sugar
Process Sourdough 1. Create the sourdough starter, by mixing water with flour, and replacing half the mix each day for a few weeks (2 weeks) 2. Get the ingredients, and mix everything except salt 3. Let it rest for about 15 minutes. 4. Mix in the salt, and knead the dough 5. Put it in the oven at about 500 degrees fahrenheit for 2 hours 6. Eat your sourdough after letting it rest for 20 min (if you like it) Yeast bread 1. Mix salt and water 2. Mix the rest of the ingredients 3. Let the dough rise for 2 hours 4. Bake for 45 minutes at a 450 degrees fahrenheit. 5. Eat after letting it rest for about 1 hour Baking Soda 1. Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and put the buttermilk at the center 2. Mix the dough, but do not knead 3. Form the dough into a ball. 4. Bake the dough for 40 minutes at 450 degree fahrenheit 5. Let the bread cool down after being done for 10 minutes
Results Sourdough: This is partially my fault, since it was my responsibility to create the sourdough. The sourdough started at 6 ½ by 4 by 2 inches, and has grown to be about 7 by 4 by 2 inches, so a decent amount. How the bread looked and tasted was a completely different story. After the bread was done, it was doughy/undercooked on the inside, and burnt on the outside. This was because the ingredients weren’t clear, but nonetheless, the damage was done. Yet, to myself, the bread was somewhat edible. It tasted like dough, and had a hint of sour in it, but very unnoticable at times. Still, it wasn’t a complete loss, as the dough was at least cooked enough to eat, and the burnt
bread didn’t affect too much of the crust, and made it crunchy, while being dense on the inside. I also expected it to not rise much, and I was correct about that. Yeast bread: The yeast bread had risen from 7 by 5 by 2.5 inches to 8 by 4.5 by 3 inches after being baked. It tasted like normal bread, as well as being more fluffy on the inside compared to the other breads, which was good. The texture of the outside was crunchy, as well as had a light brown color on the crust. Overall, I believe this was best due to the fact that it was the recipe that was the easiest to follow.
Baking Soda: As I expected, the baking soda bread had the exact same height as before, but had an enjoyable taste at about 8 by 8 by 2.5 inches. It had a different taste compared to the yeast, and it had a much darker crust unlike the yeast. I personally enjoyed the baking soda.
J.N, “Graph Bread”, Own work , 4/13/17 Calculations
Since it was my job to create the sourdough, my group and I also had to try to find the nutrients, and how much of the bread we needed daily. Since I couldn’t get the other breads, I can only show the calculations of the sourdough. I concluded that the bread had 56% of your daily calories, 81.3% of your daily carbohydrates (in grams), 1.1% of your daily fat, and 70% of your daily protein.
● Calories 1123 calories/ 2000 calories per day =0.56= 56% ● Carbohydrates 244 grams of carbohydrates/300 carbohydrates per day= .813= 81.3% ● Fat 0.75 grams total fat/65 grams of fat per day= .011= 1.1% ● Protein 34.95 grams protein/50 grams of daily protein=.699=69.9% or 70%
After looking at the conclusions, I believe my hypothesis was correct with the yeast growing the most. I was surprised with the sour bread growing, and was even more surprised that the baking soda didn’t grow at all. I did believe that the growth of baking soda would be small, but there was no growth at all, due to the fact that there were few acids in the dough, or at least that I am concerned of. I was also surprised with sourdough, and how it turned out. It was my fault, as it was our job to create the sourdough, and it didn’t turn out how we wanted it to .It was after we baked it that we realized we needed to allow it to grow for at least four hours, or two hours in a warm spot. The temperature however was very hard to understand, and it wasn’t until I read the instructions 4 times that I learned that we needed to put the bread in for a very small time, and even then we didn’t really get an exact number. But still, my hypothesis was correct, but only because of several missing factors that were needed in both the sourdough and the baking bread.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/leavening-agent https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calories.asp?recipe=1209137