What is the purpose of sugar in baking plain bread?
My recipe says 1 tablespoon of sugar per loaf.
This seems like too small an amount for flavor.
The recipe is as follows:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons active-dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 cup water
- knead, wait 1 hr, knead again, wait 1.25 hr, bake for 30min @ 350
Is this for flavor, or is there another purpose?
Best Answer
Sugar has a few effects in bread:
It helps make it soft and tender by absorbing some of the water and slowing down the formation of gluten strands.
It feeds the yeast, resulting in a faster rise.
Via caramelisation, it aids in the browning of the crust.
It acts as a preservative, keeping the bread fresher for longer (though 1tbsp probably doesn't make a lot of difference).
It does have some effect on the flavour.
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Quick Answer about "What is the purpose of sugar in baking plain bread?"
Fermentation, an extremely important process in the baking industry, is fuelled by sugars. Sugars are used to activate yeast for fermentation. The type and amount of sugar added can increase the dough yield and softness of bread by altering the rate of fermentation.Is sugar necessary in bread making?
Only 4 ingredients are necessary to make yeast bread: flour, water, yeast and salt. There is no need to add sugar when making bread as there is enough food in flour for the yeast to multiply. Sugar, if added, is mostly in the dough for the taste.How does sugar affect bread dough?
Adding sugar to bread provides easy food for the yeast, allowing it to produce carbon dioxide faster and therefore leading to faster rising times. As well as this, sugar provides more flavor, tenderizes the crumb, increases browning, and holds onto moisture, which keeps the bread fresh for longer.Can bread rise without sugar?
Bread can be made without adding any sugar to the recipe. Yeast does need sugar in order to produce gas, but there's enough naturally occurring sugar and starches in flour for it to produce gas and raise bread dough effectively.How Does Sugar Affect Bread Dough? The Effects of Sugar Explained
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Answer 2
The main reason is yeast food. You may not actually need it if you're using instant yeast; either that, or you can bump it up a little for a slightly sweeter bread.
Answer 3
Sugar is indeed a microbial like salt is but only for certain microbes. The use in bread is it keeps it moist by pulling humidity from the surrounding air. Honey is nature made sugar and a much better choice. If you want a more savory loaf then use 1 tsp. per cup of flour. For pastries then use more sugar or sprinkle it atop the pastry. If you really need food for the yeast then make a water roux by cooking up a portion of the flour and some water on a 1 to 5 ratio(1 part flour to 5 parts water) and keep stirring until the flour becomes really thick and sticky. Allow that to cool and incorporate into your dough. What happens is the starch in the flour is cooked up into carbohydrates which feeds the yeast instead of using sugar. Hope this helps...
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