Measuring the activity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in relation to home-based additives by measured net weight loss

Abstract

This research study is to measure the activity of saccharomyces cerevisiae through selected additives which have been added in the hydration step of making bread dough. The saccharomyces cerevisiae is sensitive to sugars (Mazzoleni, S. et al.2015) and by using multiple possible additives that can be found at home, we can compare which ones give a healthier yeast and therefore a better rise to the dough. As the saccharomyces cerevisiae ferments, it consumes the sugars naturally in the dough and creates an acidic environment to maintain its growth and produces CO2 as a product of this reaction, which is the cause for the rising dough. This can be tracked by how active the yeast is to its mean weight loss by measuring the weight loss of 3 separate batches and comparing the results through a Multiple Comparisons of Means: Tukey Contrasts test to see if the significance to what is added to what was added to help the fermentation process of the yeast. We can see that easily soluble sugars are the best choices for promoting the health of the saccharomyces cerevisiae in by the test with F(9,20)=14.49, p<0.0001.

Department: Mathematics and Statistics

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karen Buro