sugar eating yeast

[rbednarski]

I just found a recipe on another message board that I am interested in trying for pizza crust. One thing concerns me, however. The recipe includes a teaspoon of sugar that the author says is necessary to "feed" the yeast. I'm not sure how (if??) I should adjust the counts to account for the fact that much of the sugar won't survive its encounter with the yeast.

Here is the recipe:

1-1/2 cup lukewarm water
4 cups wheat protein isolate
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbl Italian seasoning
2 Tbl olive oil
1 tsp table sugar (sucrose)
1 - ? tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 pkg)

It is all put into a bread machine set for dough.

According to Life Form calories are 3131 and the carbs are 33 total with 3 fiber, without making any adjustment for the sugar.

So what do you all think? Just bite the bullet and use the figures without any adjustment or should some adjustment be made for the sugar-eating yeast?

Thanks

Rich

[not2late]

Yeah, yeast eats sugar to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide is what makes the bread rise. The protein matrix formed by the gluten in the wheat flour is what holds the carbon dioxide in.

[Heidi3]

what she said!!!

but if you do not want to use sugar you can leave it out the yeast will feed on the other ingredients in there!....

[NulloModo]

I don't see much else in there the yeast could feed on though. I generally use 1 packet of sugar per 1.5 to 2 tsp of rapid-rise active dry yeast, and that ratio seems to work very well both from getting a nice rise and not having any stalls for sugars left in the finished product.

[Isabeau]

This post reminds me of my grandfather, who would say in his deep Scottish brogue "yeasties are little beasties that eat sugar and **** alchohol". *grins* I just had to share that.

[not2late]

Nullo it will feed on the sugars of the other ingredients. If you do a classic sour dough starter, you must mix flour, yeast and water--no sugar necessary because the yeast has enzymes that will break down the flour into carbs. I've seen some recipes that only use whole wheat flour and water. Anyhow, you just have to feed the starter more flour, sometimes alittle water to keep it alive.

[NulloModo]

I don't dispute that yeast can feed on other things, but there is nothing else in that recipe that looks like suitable yeast food.

Flour is a simple starch, practically sugar for most purposes, but WPI is almost pure protein, not enough starch to feed the yeast. Also, I somehow doubt the yeast would be able to live off of the spices or parmesan cheese.

[not2late]

The lactose in the cheese.

[NulloModo]

Perhaps, if there is enough left... It would be interesting to find out if Parm, which is a fairly aged and hard cheese, has enough lactose left to support yeast, or whether yeast could even live on lactose. IIRC the bacteria that create yogurt feed off of lactose, but that you can't use yeast to create yogurt...

[Heidi3]

I am willing to bet it will rise yeast of today eats anything!!!

[not2late]

I am willing to bet it will rise yeast of today eats anything!!!

That's true. The homemade yeast concoctions were a bit unstable in that you might get a good batch or you might not. I remember I made a yeast batch using grapes and that stuff never did a bloody thing...kept it at the right temperature, followed the instructions, everything and it refused to grow. And I've had my share of sourdough starter die on me too.

The stuff you buy in stores is pretty reliable.

[2big4mysize]

it isn't the yeast don't eat the sugar it is just that will the yeast eat all the sugar is the question as while it looks small to us the amount of actual sugar molecules on there are pretty high compared to the amount the yeast can somsume in the amount of time from contact to baking.
to be safe count your sugar carbs in your total and be safe the carbs in a t are what 4?

[scott123]

Nullo's right. Yeast can't subsist on protein.

From what I can recall, yeast can't break down lactose - that's one of the ways bakers add residual sweetness to bread - by adding milk.

Normally I tell people to cut back on the table sugar in lc bread recipes because there's usually other carbs in the recipe for the yeast to munch on, but not this recipe. Between the WPI and spices/herbs you're talking trace carbs. I believe that yeast can get by on very little food, but I think omitting the sugar from this would be too little.

If I were making this recipe, I'd add the tsp of sugar, and, as 2big says, count the 4 carbs, since there's really no way of determining how much residual sugar is left.

That's if I were making this recipe. Rich, I've never made bread using parmesan cheese, so I don't know what kind of impact that would make, but I have tried substituting WPI one for one with flour and the results were disatrous, both from a perspective of taste and texture. From what I can tell, someone is trying to sub WPI for flour here. I can promise you, it won't work. The parm is a great idea for bread. I would take a tried and true recipe like Nullo's rolls and add some parm to that.

[Heidi3]

I will tell you what how about I risk it and try the recipe with out sugar? ..then will you believe me when I say this will rise?...be back with the report!.....ps you guys know if it bombs I am humble enough to admit failure!....I have to buy some protein isolate however....

[rbednarski]

Nullo's right. Yeast can't subsist on protein.

Rich, I've never made bread using parmesan cheese, so I don't know what kind of impact that would make, but I have tried substituting WPI one for one with flour and the results were disatrous, both from a perspective of taste and texture. From what I can tell, someone is trying to sub WPI for flour here. I can promise you, it won't work. The parm is a great idea for bread. I would take a tried and true recipe like Nullo's rolls and add some parm to that.

Do you have a link to Nullo's rolls? Or can you tell me how I can search for it (teach me to fish?). You were right, I tried the recipe and it came out looking like The Creature That Ate New Jersey. So I am open to alternatives. Pizza is the one and only thing that I truly miss from my pre-lowcarb days and I haven't yet found a substitute that I've liked, so the search goes on. It is made harder by the fact that I grew up in NY and am a bit of a pizza snob.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on the discussion. It was quite educational for me.

Rich