21 thoughts on “BREAD TALK (TALONS TALK) – How is the smell, taste, and look of bread affected by the amount of yeast and type of flour added?”

1. Hey Dylan, your talk is amazing! It is so well rehearsed and the vibe is just so professional! I love how you added music in the background, the audio quality is perfect too. The video of your bread-kneading was epic too, it must be so satisfying to feel how stretchy that is!

   A question I have for you is: What happens to yeast as it sits on the shelf for a long time? (Like does it die or something the older it is? What about the expiry date)

   From Anita
   P.S. I make bread every few days actually so your talk was the first i listened to! I make no-knead bread so I don’t have to knead it lazy me lol

   1. Hey Anita, thanks for commenting!

      To answer your question, the longer your yeast sits on the shelf, the more potency it loses. This may result in the bread that you add the yeast into not rising properly.

      In some cases, if you have yeast that has been sitting on the shelf for an extremely long time, the yeast may die. Dead yeast cannot produce gasses (as they’re dead) and thus, you’re bread won’t rise at all.

      It’s best to use your yeast before the listed expiration date, but if you’re still not sure if it’s still alive, you can just simply do something called “blooming the yeast.” Blooming the yeast is when you mix in the amount of yeast you intend to add to your bread to a small bowl of warm milk, and then let it sit for 10 minutes. If after that period of time (or longer), you can see that the top of the liquid is bubbly/foamy, that means the yeast is still alive. If it didn’t bubble, and you’ve been waiting for quite some time, then that probably means your yeast is dead, and you should probably buy some new yeast.
      (Example of bloomed yeast taken from the video “How To Make Supermarket Bread (Sandwich Loaf Bread) – By Joshua Weissman”)

      From, Dylan
      P.S. Very cool! Some of my peers give me flack for this, but I like to use a stand mixer because I’m lazy as well lol.

      1. Thanks for your reply Dylan! Now I know potency is a word. Beautiful bloomed yeast that is.

         Anita

2. Hey Dylan! Very nice presentation! I loved how professional the presentation was, as well as the relaxing music in the background to tie it all together. Just one question: Does the amount of yeast/flour in the bread affect how long it should be baked for?

   From Kavyan

   1. Thanks for commenting and the compliment, Kavyan!

      To answer your question, the amount of yeast that you add to bread does not affect how long the loaf of bread should be baked. However, the amount of flour that you add to bread will affect how long it’ll take to bake because the more flour you add, the bigger your loaf will become in volume (only if you add more liquid in proportion to how much more additional flour you add. This is because flour cannot become a dough without a liquid).

      Thanks, Dylan.

3. I really like the music! It makes your bread talk very unique. One thing I wish, though, is that you would use pictures and diagrams to support the points you make, rather than just pictures of baking related things. I have a question though, how is yeast made?

   1. Hey Benjamin, thanks for commenting! Thanks for the compliments, and I’ll take that in mind and add more pictures next time!

      To answer your question, most commercial yeast is grown in large amounts in a factory and involves preparation, seeding, cultivating, and harvesting. It’s just like normal farming, but machine-powered and in a factory. In most cases, diluted molasses is fed to seed yeast and is left to ferment and grow. During the growth period, the yeast produces fermentation liquid. Once the yeast has finished growing, they concentrate the yeast by passing the fermentation liquid through centrifugal tubes called “separators.” They would then further concentrate it different amounts to get different types of yeast, such as instant-yeast or cake yeast.

      However, you can just grow your own yeast by simply adding some sugar, water, and flour to a jar, and doing some other stuff to it. I’m not too knowledgeable on growing your own yeast, so I’d recommend watching this video by Adam Ragusea on making sour bread with home-grown wild yeast.

      Thanks, Dylan

4. Hey Dylan,

   I loved how you used a YouTube video to integrate all the components (audio, slide show, music, bread-kneading video) into your Bread Talk to make it look very professional. It also really made it much easier and more convenient to watch. I feel that I would have appreciated your presentation much more if you used more graphs to support your points. Here is a question I have: How does baking temperature affect how bread rises? We learned in class that increasing the temperature usually increases reaction rate. Is this true for bread rising? Will extreme temperatures kill the yeast?

   Take care,
   Colin

   1. Hey Colin, thanks for commenting! I appreciate the compliments!

      To answer your question, Colin, no, the rate of how bread rises is not affected by baking temperature as the bread has already finished fermenting before entering the oven. However, if you meant “how does temperature affect how bread rises?” Then yes, it does. The ideal temperatures for bread to rise in is 27°C and 32°C, with lower temperatures slowing down fermentation, and hotter temperatures killing the yeast. Extreme temperatures will no doubt just kill the yeast. So, yes, higher temperatures increase the yeast’s reaction rate, but you must be careful with how hot it is as it can also just kill the yeast, which will result in the bread not rising at all.

      Thanks, Dylan

5. Awesome presentation with so much relevant information! I had no idea that bread making was so tedious! I loved how clear and direct you were with your knowledge on the matter. I also appreciated how passionate you seemed throughout the video because it helped me stay engaged with what you were saying. I am wondering how and when bread was first discovered? All in all, I applaud you on such great project!

   1. Hey Glen, thanks for commenting! I’m flattered by your compliments!

      To answer your question, Glen, the first known leavened bread made with semi-domesticated yeast was sometime back in 1000 BCE. However, some scholars have debated on bread’s exact origin, as there is evidence that the first civilization in history, Mesopotamia, also produced yeast-risen bread. For your info, Mesopotamia began sometime back in 4000 BCE, so it should be around that time. Perhaps around 3500 BCE?

      Thanks, Dylan.

6. Great job Dylan, you were very clear throughout the presentation, you went out of your way to interview someone and it seemed like you had done a ton of research and spent lots of time working on the presentation. I also really liked how you added the video that you made to support what you were talking about. I think that the background music was a great idea but I found it a little bit distracting expecially at the start but then once you were getting into your presentation I forgot about the music, so great job on your bread talk! You were very clear in your presentation so the only thing that I was wondering is if there would be any dangers in putting way too much yeast in the bread.

   1. Thanks for the comment, Ronan! I’m flattered by your compliments! I’ll keep the music thing in mind for next time, as when I asked others to quickly watch my ted talk over, they said the volume was fine. I will make it not as loud next time.

      To answer your question, Ronan, I don’t think it would be harmful, just extremely unpleasant to eat, as all those “yeast-y” aromas and flavours hit your tongue.

      Thanks, Dylan

7. I really liked how you organized the formatting of the presentation. The background music was really cool too! I never knew there were so many different types of flours! I was wondering how people made up certain types of bread like sour-dough or wheat bread. Otherwise, this was a very good presentation!

   1. Thanks for the comment, Joanne! I appreciate the compliments!

      To answer your “wonder,” I’m guessing that different types of bread were created due to different cultures, and what ingredients they had! Like how cheese became made in varying ways all over the world, the same probably happened with bread, as each culture had different cultures and different ingredients on hand. Perhaps some people figured out how to grow their own wild yeast, and made sour-bread! While others liked to use bread as a “plate” to put your other foods on top, like the tortilla or pita. Once again, this is just my thoughts on this topic, though I think it should be a possible train of thought.

      Thanks, Dylan

8. Wow, Dylan, this is amazing!
   I got a lot of spoilers about your talk during the process, but I was still pleasantly surprised and impressed by the result. I can tell that food is your comfort zone and that you know a lot about it. Your talk was so pleasing to the ear and the combination of the calming music (which was at the perfect volume level) and your great presentation delivery was really fun to listen to. I learned so much and your talk was so clear, appealing and engaging.
   I wanted to ask whether you know about how bread is affected by the environment it’s is baked in and the like. I know that meringues can really fail in a humid environment, but I’m not sure if bread is that delicate – could you enlighten me a bit on some of the external factors that may impact that fluffy loaf? I apologize if that’s a bit of a complex question.
   Once again, your presentation is super cool and I almost want to watch it over and over again. I’m glad you went with the background music I suggested! I’m also craving bread by now, haha. Thank you for teaching me about bread!
   -Bana

   P.S. I really like your blog theme and background, your blog is so aesthetically pleasing.

   1. Hey Bana, thanks for this incredibly insightful and detailed comment! I am extremely flattered by the compliments! I legitimately did not know that putting music in my background would be such a hit, LOL.

      To answer your question, Bana, bread is greatly affected by the environment, especially during fermentation. It’s generally more ideal to rise bread in more humid areas as it helps the bread rise, and in dryer areas, it makes it more difficult for the bread to rise. Also, as in my response to Colin’s question, bread is affected by temperature as well. It can affect rising as the cold slows down the metabolic rate, and make rising much slower.

      Thanks, Dylan
      P.S. Awww, thank you! Though vegetarians will have to disagree tho LOL, with that steak as my header image (I should probably switch that soon LOL).

9. Whats up Dylan, first, I would like to honor the french bread music along with the presentation. It provides a less informative atmosphere where in my opinion, does not overwhelm us with the amount of in-depth information you have in your presentation. I was captivated by the amount of depth you can go into bread, and above that, how you can condense the valuable information without getting repetitive. One place where you can improve is adding bullet points into the actual presentation which will aid note taking if someone was referencing off your video. One question I have is are there alternatives for yeast, and what similarities do they have? At last, it’s a great and well thought out presentation!

   1. Hey Hanson, thanks for commenting! I appreciate the insightful thoughts about my TALONS Talk! Regarding your little talk about how you were “captivated” by how in-depth I went with bread, I have to agree with you. Most people commonly think of food as just “food,” while there is truly just so much more to it. It’s why talking about the science of food often gets so many people interested, since they’ve never considered the sheer possibility of food being this complex! I’ll also take in the criticisms for next time, they’re greatly appreciated!

      To answer your question, Hanson, there are alternatives to yeast. Baking powder being the main one. You can often substitute yeast for baking powder in most recipes, though you should be warned that while baking powder and yeast both share a similarity in the fact that they both cause things to rise, it won’t have that distinct aroma or flavour you’d often find while using yeast.

      Thanks, Dylan

10. Hi Dylan! Your presentation was great! It sounded very well researched and professional. You were very well-spoken and I can tell you are passionate about your project. Personally, I have had my own bread-making adventures, and sometimes they work out really well, but sometimes they stay flat and don’t rise. If I were to use the same amount of yeast and the same amount of flour in two loaves, but one didn’t rise, what could be the possible causes of that?
    Thank you for a great TALON talk!
    -Kira

    1. Hey Kira! Thanks for the comment! I appreciate the compliments!

       To answer your question, Kira, if you make two identical loaves, but one doesn’t rise, and the other does rise, a possible reason for that happening could be that you killed the yeast while blooming? Or, perhaps you didn’t give the bread enough time to rise? Another probable reason could be that the temperatures at which you had both loaves were different, and that is why one did rise and the other one didn’t.

       Thanks, Dylan.

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