(light music)
(classical music)
(chalkboard writing)
- Hi, I'm Lauren and
welcome to Brain Stuff.
Okay, so billions of people
eat bread every single day
but have you ever actually
thought about how it works?
Sure, the bread-making process
turns hard kernels of wheat
into something airy, soft,
and delicious, but how?
Is it magic?
I'm sorry to be the one
to break this to you
but your bread was not made by wizards.
One of the key players here is yeast.
Now, yeast is a fungus that eats sugar
and produces carbon dioxide
and alcohol as waste.
The carbon dioxide is
what ultimately creates
that airy texture, but for this to work,
bakers have to trap the carbon dioxide.
A protein group called gluten
is what comes in handy here.
It's a stretchy substance,
technically a viscoelastic matrix,
and that's a little bit like bubble gum.
The gluten in bread wheat is actually
a mix of a bunch of different proteins.
When they're combined with water,
they create a lot of chemical
bridges and protein chains,
which we collectively call gluten.
Okay, so when bakers need bread dough,
they develop this gluten further
by linking its molecules together,
making it even more stretchy.
And then once the yeast begins producing
carbon dioxide bubbles,
the dough catches those bubbles
in little gluten balloons
and then the whole loaf starts to rise.
As the bread bakes, the
proteins heat up and then set.
They firm up sort of like
an egg when you cook it.
Of course, there are thousands
of different types of bread
and each has slightly
different ingredients,
flavors, and preparation methods.
These days, some are
even made without gluten.
But that's a whole other episode.
Everyone has their favorite kind of bread.
Mine happens to be sourdough,
which is a delicious symbiosis
between yeast and a bacteria
that excrete lactic acid,
which is tastier than it sounds.
What about you?
If you'd like to let us know,
there is a convenient comment field
hovering somewhere below me
on your internet web browser.
There is also a Like button,
it would be really awesome
if you would click that if
you, in fact, liked this video.
You can also hit Subscribe
so that you won't miss the next one
and me and or one of my charming co-hosts
will talk to you again really soon.
(light music)
