Introduction Leavening agents have been used for thousands of years to create bread. They feed off of sugars in bread dough and create carbon dioxide (CO2) which adds air holes to bread to make it rise. Leavening agents all have pros and cons which means they are each used for specific reasons, but I wanted to know which agent caused bread to rise the most. The leavening agents that I decided to test were baking soda, a chemical agent, yeast, and sourdough starter, both biological agents. A chemical leavening agent is an agent that is made by man, and works faster. Biological agents add taste to the bread, work slower, and occur naturally. Purpose The purpose of this experiment was to see which leavening agent (yeast, baking soda, and sourdough starter) worked the best to make the bread rise the most. Hypothesis I believe the yeast will make the bread rise the highest, because yeast is most commonly used to make bread, which obviously means it works well. It has also been used for the longest time Calculations Control Group: Commercial Yeast Bread: 2/7 of original recipe Ingredient
Calculations
Revised Amount
3 Cups Water
2/7*3= .85
17/20 Cups
6.57.5 Cups AllPurpose Flour
2/7*6.5= 1.8
1 ⅘ Cups
1 Tablespoon Salt
2/7*1= 2/7
2/7 tablespoons
1.5 Tablespoons Yeast
2/7*1.5= .42
21/50 tablespoons
Experimental Group: Sourdough Starter: ½ of original recipe Ingredient
Calculations
Revised Amount
10 cups flour
10/2= 5
5 cups
4 cups water
4/2= 2
2 cups
3.5 tablespoons salt
3.5/2= 1.75
1.75 tablespoons
¾ cup starter
¾ /2= .375
.375 cups