- Where can I purchase the Bruggeman products?
- What is the difference between fresh and dry yeast and how do I apply their dosage??
- How is yeast produced?
- How is yeast activity explained?
- What is molasses?
- Where can I find recipes?
- Does yeast contain gluten?
Where can I purchase the Bruggeman products?
Our products are on sale in most supermarkets.
In Belgium:
- Fresh yeast, Carrefour, Delhaize, Cora, Match, ...
- Dry Yeast: Makro, Carrefour, Delhaize, Cora, Match, Aveve, Colruyt,...
What is the difference between fresh and dry yeast and how do I apply their dosage?
Fresh yeast is obtained after filtration of the yeast suspension (see also Production). It contains around 30% of dry substance and is either pressed into blocks or sold loose, in the form of yeast flakes.
Dry yeast, also known as instant yeast, is a natural and living yeast in dry form (see also Production). Dehydrating yeast is a very delicate process. Dry yeast has a moisture content of maximum 5%, but it is still viable after contact with water. This is an important distinction with any other instant product like milk powder or instant coffee. The packing of dry yeast is carried out very carefully at Algist Bruggeman: under controlled conditions, the dry yeast is vacuum packed in order to avoid contact with air, water and light and to assure a long shelf life. A significant advantage of dry yeast is that it does not need to be mixed with water before it is combined with the dough. Its fine granular structure allows it to be added to the dough in dry form where it dissolves during kneading.
As to dosage, 100 grammes of dry yeast correspond to 300 grammes of fresh yeast, that is 100 grammes of fresh yeast = 33 grammes of dry yeast.
How is yeast produced?
See our "Production" page
How is yeast activity explained?
Yeast can "live" in two different ways: with oxygen (aerobic fermentation) or without (anaerobic fermentation).
If oxygen and nutrients are present, the yeast will multiply by budding. This is a delicate, high-tech biological process during which a tiny cell or daughter cell develops on the cell wall. After mitosis and cell division, one cell originates two cells with exactly the same characteristics. So, yeast cells multiply according to a geometric sequence: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 etc. Theoretically speaking, after 34 doublings, one cell will originate 17,174,869,184 cells, which is still less than 2 grammes of yeast. Under ideal vital conditions, one cell division by budding takes about 90 minutes. As a yeast factory, we use this mechanism to produce yeast. Yeast production consists of controlling the multiplication in such a way that the specific characteristics of yeast are optimised for bread production.
When yeast has no oxygen available to it - which is the case in bread preparation because the dough no longer contains any oxygen after a few minutes of kneading - it will switch over to what we call anaerobic respiration: it will ferment the sugars that are present in the dough and convert them into carbon dioxide (CO2) and alcohol. These “gas bubbles” remain caught in the glutinous network of the dough which causes it to rise. This gives the bread a porous, light structure and maximum volume. The amount of gas produced by the yeast depends on the temperature (the ideal temperature is between 25°C and 35°C), the quantity and type of sugars available etc.
Apart from its rising power, yeast is also responsible for a whole series of aromatic elements which provide the bread with its typical, pleasant smell and taste. In addition, it also increases the nutritional value of bread products due to its high vitamin-B content. Furthermore, yeast affects the rheology of the dough by influencing the pH value, enzymatic reactions and dough volume, and by producing ethanol.
The yeast dies when the dough is put in the oven, at about 45°C. The gas already available in the dough continues to swell because of the heat in the oven, and this causes what we call "oven rising".
What is molasses?
Molasses is a raw material for the production of baker's yeast. It is a by-product of sugar production in sugar refineries. Molasses is a sacchariferous raw material (about 50% sugar) and contains other non-sugar components (35%) and water (15%). The yeast consumes the sugar as a source of carbon and uses some other components from the molasses as well.
The molasses is supplied by truck or boat, unloaded at the molasses discharge station and pumped from there to the different storage tanks.
Before the molasses is suitable for use in fermentation, it must undergo pre-treatment in the molasses preparation process. This means:
- diluting the molasses syrup with water until the desired concentration is obtained;
- bringing this diluted solution to the desired pH value with sulphuric acid;
- clarifying the diluted solution by means of centrifugation in order to remove all solids;
- sterilizing the diluted solution at 130°C in order to kill all micro-organisms.
Where can I find recipes?
You will find our recipes at:: Club Paneo
Does yeast contain gluten?
No, yeast is completely gluten-free.