Analysis

​ Question/Problem​ :

How effective are leavening agents when compared to one another?

Hypothesis: I believe that the sourdough starter will be more effective than the other leavening materials due to its natural yeast.

Material List: Sourdough: ● ● ● ● ●

¾ starter 3 ½ tablespoon salt 4 cups water Wheat 10 cups flour

Yeast: ● ● ● ●

3 cups lukewarm water 7 ½ cups flour 1 tablespoon salt 1 ½ tablespoon yeast

Chemical: ● ● ● ● ●

3 ½ cups flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon baking soda 1 tablespoon salt 1 ½ cups buttermilk

Procedures:

Yeast Bread 1. Place all ingredients within a bowl and begin mixing 2. Allow the dough to rise by covering it and allowing it to refrigerate for up to seven days 3. Place more flour on the dough then take ¼ to ⅓ of the dough 4. Re­adjust the dough into a ball and let it set

5.

Place the dough on a piece of parchment that is slightly greased

6. Let the dough rise at room temperature 7.

Cut the bread into 3 pieces

8. Bake the bread up to 30 min 9. Take the bread out

Sourdough ​ 1.​ Feed starter everyday for about a week ​ 2.​ Knead the dough to circular shape ​ 3.​ Ferment dough and mix it in with the rest of the ingredients ​ 4.​ Divide the loaves and place them in the oven ​ 5.​ Heat oven to 250 degrees and let it bake for 2 hours ​ 6.​ Take out the oven and enjoy

Chemical Leavening Agent Bread 1.​ Place all dry ingredients such as flour in the bowl, then place dough inside 2.​ Claw at the top of the dough softly with a fork 3.​ Roll the dough into a ball and place it on tray 4.​ Heat oven 5.​ Place dough into oven and let it bake at 400­450 degrees

Control Group: ​ Commercial Yeast Bread

Ingredient

Calculations

Revised Amount

3 Cups Water

3/1 x 2/7

3 2/7

6.5­7.5 Cups All­Purpose Flour

13/7 x 2/7

2 1/7

1 Tablespoon Salt

1/1 x 2/7

1 2/7

1.5 Tablespoons Yeast

3/7 x 2/7

5/7

Experimental Group: ​ Sourdough Starter

Ingredient

Calculations

Revised Amount

3 ½ cup of all purpose flour

None

3 ½ cup of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon sugar

None

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

None

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking None soda

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ ­2 cups of buttermilk

1 ½ ­2 cups of buttermilk

None

Experimental group 2: ​ Sourdough

Ingredient

Calculations

Revised Amount

10 cups flour

10/2

5 cups of flour

4 cups water

4/2

2 cups of water

3­5 teaspoons of salt

3.5/2

1 ¾ teaspoon salt

¾ starter

3/4/2

⅜ Cups of starter

Variable

Control Group

Experiment al Group 1

Experimental Group 2

Flour type

Bread flour

Bread flour

Bread flour

Dough rise time

​ 2 hours

15 min

2 hours

Oven temperature

450

450 first 15 min

400 for 20 min

400­450

Bake time

35 min

20­30 min

40­60 min

Dough amount

331.25 grams

331.25

331.25

Other

The taste was salty but sweet

The taste was salty and the smallest bit sour

The taste was slightly sweet

Pictures

Yeast Bread

Sourdough Bread

Baking Soda

Analysis: For my analysis I received enough data to have finally come to a conclusion. But before I speak of my conclusion I will talk about the process that I had to go through in order to understand the experiment as well as my hypothesis. Originally the chemical bread group or baking soda bread’s dough was 2 inches tall before we placed it in the oven, then after it was taken out of the oven the size had increased to 5 inches. Now for The control group or yeast bread dough it was originally 0.5 inches but when put into the oven and allowed to set the size had increased to 2 inches. And lastly the sourdough group, the dough Now the reasons as to why the bread rose to these sizes was due to the amount of sugars inside the dough or in the case of the chemical bread the size of the reaction. Depending on the amount of sugar that is available within the dough yeast will feed on it and either give off small amounts of carbon dioxide or large amounts which in turn allows the bread to rise. Now I had originally believed that due to the sourdough starter having natural forms of both sugar and yeast it might have provided more than the other doughs. I was incorrect about my hypothesis, it turns out that the baking soda had more of a reaction than any of the other dough with the yeast and sugar. Now each piece of bread had its own taste that was unique, the starter tasted slightly sour but salty, the chemical tasted sweet, and the yeast had a combination of sweet and salty. I also have included a graph above that explains the size change between the bread, the other graphs explain the ingredients and measurements included to make the bread.

Conclusion​ :​ My hypothesis when compared to the results was incorrect, the sourdough

starter’s natural yeast did not make the bread rise any higher than I originally believed. That being said in my opinion the sourdough starter had the best taste out of all the batches of bread.