Everything Kids' Magical Science Experiments Book Read Online Free

measure the diameter of each dough ball to see which one grew the largest.
    Science Online
    You can read about 150 years of yeast history, courtesy of Fleischmann's: www.breadworld.com/science history/science.asp.
Questions for the Scientist
What temperature was the most effective for causing your bread to rise? Why do you think this temperature worked best?
Could you detect any smells coming from your bread? What did it smell like? What do you suppose caused those smells?
What might have happened if you had let the dough sit for a longer period of time, several days for example?
Research ideal water temperature for rising bread dough to see how closely your results agreed with that recommended temperature.
    Did You Know?

    During the Passover feast, Jewish believers eat only unleavened bread. That means it was not made with any leavening (rising) ingredients, such as yeast. The result is typically a flat, crisp bread.
Follow-Up
    There are several variations to this experiment that you could also perform. For example, you could use water that is always the same temperature and you could vary the temperature at the place you left the dough to rise. You could place one dough ball on the counter, one in the refrigerator, one in the freezer; one could go outside, and one could go in the oven with the door open and light on (but no heat). In this form of experiment, instead of testing the effects of water temperature on the rising of bread dough, you would be testing the effects of the air temperature.
    Another possibility would be to keep both water and air temperatures the same, but vary the amount of salt or the amount of sugar you add to the dough. Since salt and sugar are known to either speed up or slow down the yeast's ability to grow, changing the amount of salt or sugar (but never both in the same experiment) would give you another possible question to explore.
    It's always important, however, when doing these types of experiments that you only change one variable at a time. To summarize the possibilities discussed here, you should choose one of the following variables to change, and therefore study:
Temperature of the water
Air temperature
Amount of salt added
Amount of sugar added
Can you think of any others?
    Simple Bread Recipe
    (courtesy of Lisa Robinson)
    Ingredients
1½ cups warm water (110°F)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups bread flour
    Instructions
In a bowl, mix together water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until it becomes creamy. It should take about 10 minutes.
Add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Mix in the remaining flour ½ cup at a time.
Dump the dough onto a lightly floured flat surface and knead it until it is smooth and slightly springy. Do this for 5–10 minutes.
Dump dough into a greased bowl and cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Place the bowl in a warm location and let it sit for one hour. The dough should approximately double in size.
Remove dough from the bowl and knead it again for two minutes before splitting the dough and placing the halves in two loaf pans that have been coated with oil or butter. Cover the pans with a damp cloth and let the dough rise for one more hour.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF and bake your bread for 18–20 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown.
Remove from oven, slice, and serve.
Conclusion
    Yeast is a remarkable ingredient. Many of the baked goods you eat use some form of leavening, whether it is yeast, baking powder, or something else. You might even want to try baking cookies, or a cake, without adding baking powder, to see what happens. Many prepackaged mixes already include these ingredients, so you don't have to worry about it. But if you bake from scratch, be sure to include them if having your work rise is important to you.

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Life in a Fun House

    W ho hasn't been forced to do chores by their parents? Some days it seems like all parents care about is doing chores.