What effect do salt and sugar have on yeast, some recipes call for sugar in dough others don't. I was wondering why this is as i thought the sugar was needed to feed the yeast and the salt to kill it. So the dough rises but not so much as to turn to goo???

Any help on this would be appreciated

By Corey (Corey) on Monday, November 11, 2002 - 11:07 am: Edit

I think the salt helps the leavening

By Cheftim (Cheftim) on Monday, November 11, 2002 - 12:42 pm: Edit

From the Red Star Yeast Web Site
http://www.redstaryeast.net/ingred.htm

Sugar - Yeast ferments sugar and starch in flour producing carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol gases. Too much sugar will slow the yeast activity. Therefore, sweet breads are usually dense and not as large as sandwich breads. White sugar, brown sugar, honey, and molasses may all be interchanged equally. Most artificial sweeteners may not be substituted in bread making as they are proteins and cannot be fermented.

Salt - Salt affects the activity of yeast. Without salt, the yeast acts very rapidly and peters out too quickly. Too much salt will stunt yeast activity. Salt adds flavor and strengthens the dough structure.

Flour - Dough structure is formed from the protein in wheat flour. Other grains can be ground into flour, but wheat is the only grain that contains a sufficient amount of the type of protein that forms gluten. When the flour is mixed with other ingredients, the protein comes in contact with the liquids and becomes gluten. Kneading the dough develops an interlocking network of elastic gluten strands which hold the dough together. As the yeast ferments the sugar and/or starches, the gases formed stretch the strands giving rise to the dough.

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, November 11, 2002 - 10:37 pm: Edit

Speaking of yeast..........
anyone hear that the owner of the Bakery in Paris,
" Poular " (spelling is off ) died.
His two daughters are taking over, one's 17 and the other, is 16.
I guess it's one of the best bread bakeries in France.
I think it's great his girls are going to continue it.
Now if they could only teach Chef Manny how to bake bread!
LOL.

By Corey (Corey) on Tuesday, November 12, 2002 - 12:23 pm: Edit

err, Bakers make a lot of dough...