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What is Yeast? : The baker's best friend

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In the olden days, the bakers and the brewers used to use hops or boiled potatoes for making wild yeast as a fermenting culture, and the fermentation process used to take a very very long time. However, now yeast is easily grown and is one of the most important ingredients used in bread making when it comes to fermentation. It's also known by the scientific name as “ Saccharomyces cerevisiae ” also commonly known as brewer's or baker’s yeast . The yeast plays a crucial role in several food products making processes such as baking, brewing, and winemaking. However, in this article, we'll understand what yeast is and what different usable forms it is available in the market close to their application in baking. Yeast is the heart and soul when it comes to bread making, providing the ideal chewy textured bread crumb with a crisp and crackly crust. For making bread, the dough is fermented for two main reasons, they are : A. Production of CO2 gas, that gives volume to the bread

What are Oxygen Scavenger / Absorbers? : Little Food Rescuers !!!

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  Oxygen Absorbers: Little Food Rescuers !!! E ver wondered what those  additional small little pouches are?  And why they are kept inside the food packets?   So let us dig in to know more about these little food savers and their role in food packaging..... The small oxygen absorber sachets are printed as 'oxygen absorber' on them.  (Not to be confused with the silica gel pouches, since they look quite similar, always check the mentioned printed name on the sachet.)  The oxygen absorber sachets essentially help in removing the oxygen from an enclosed food packet to preserve food quality. What is an oxygen absorber? How do Oxygen absorbers work?  Oxygen Absorbers or Oxygen scavengers The small sachets of the oxygen absorber usually contain a mixture of iron powder, natural zeolite clay and other ingredients like salt in the granular powder form.  This oxygen absorber requires and works in the presence of moisture (humidity) hence the clay avails the required moistness and the ir