Ishwardat Boodramlall Lab#12 2019/02/14

Title: Respiration
Introduction: Cellular respiration is a process that occurs in two forms, aerobic and anaerobic.
Aerobic respiration occurs in the mitochondria, while anaerobic respiration occurs in the
cytoplasm of the cell. Cellular respiration within the yeast is important in bread making because
it is needed for bread to rise and form carbon dioxide bubbles in the bread. Plants, specifically
wheat, are involved in this process because of the process photosynthesis which they performed
when they were still alive (Durant,2013). Photosynthesis allows for cellular respiration to occur
because it creates glucose, a reactant in the equation for cellular respiration. The yeast needs the
glucose to perform cellular respiration and produce carbon dioxide, making the bread rise.
Aim: To investigate the effects of sugar in bread making
Materials/apparatus: 4 metal spoons, Bread pans, Measuring utensils (cups and spoons), 4
large mixing bowl, whisk, 4 straws, 4clothespin, stopwatch, ruler, graph paper,1 packet active
dry yeast,2 packet self-rising flour,2 packet whole wheat flour, sugar ,salt ,water ,milk ,vegetable
oil ,greaseproof paper ,aluminium foil ,napkin
Method
1. Two loaves of Bread were prepared using the recipe below-one with 2 tablespoons of sugar
added, the other without sugar.
2. A straw was placed into the center of each dough made after combing all ingredients.
3. The dough was pushed up the straw until there was enough space to attach a clothespin.
4. The height of the dough was recorded after 10 minutes for 5 intervals.
5. The bread was cooled then it was sliced and the texture and taste was compared.
6. Steps 1 to 4 was repeated using whole-wheat flour.
Results
Intervals White bread White bread Whole-wheat Whole-wheat
with sugar(cm) without bread with bread without
sugar(cm) sugar(cm) sugar(cm)
10 minutes 3.3 3.8 4.2 3.4
20 minutes 3.9 4.6 4.4 3.4
30 minutes 4.3 5.2 5.1 3.7
40 minutes 5.1 6.1 6.1 4.6
50 minutes 5.6 6.4 6.4 4.8
Taste ++++ ++++ ++++ +++
Texture ++++ +++ + +
NB: + increase in plus sign indicates increase in the level of taste and texture
Table showing the length of the bread raised by the dough at five intervals and the overall
texture and taste of each bread
Ishwardat Boodramlall Lab#12 2019/02/14

Graph

5
Height/cm

0
10 20 30 40 50
Time/minutes

White bread with sugar(cm) White bread without sugar

Whole-wheat Bread with sugar Whole-wheat bread without sugar

Discussion
The term fermentation is used in two distinct ways. It used to be applied to anaerobic respiration
in yeast and other microorganism. The ability of yeast to ferment sugar to form ethanol and
carbon dioxide is used in bread making. The role of yeast in bread making is to produce carbon
dioxide, which causes bread dough to rise-a process sometimes called leavening. Yeast is mixed
with flour, sugar, salt, ascorbic acid and water to make dough. The dough is folded and kneaded
and then left in a humid atmosphere at 350C for the yeast to respire the sugar. There is some
oxygen dissolved in the dough but if this is used up, yeast respires anaerobically. The carbon
dioxide released forms of pockets of gas in the dough causing it to rise. The dough is then baked
and any ethanol produced is burnt off and goes up the baker’s chimney. During fermentation, the
yeasts convert maltose in the flour and sucrose to monosaccharaides and respire them
anaerobically(Fosbery,2012).
From the line graph plotted with height of dough against time, it was observed that as time
increases the height of dough for each bread increases simultaneously. The only deviation from
this trend was the whole wheat bread without sugar. This phenomenon showed a constant height
of dough for the first 20 minutes, then it increases steadily for the remaining 30 minutes.
This line graph displayed the comparison of two variables: White bread and whole wheat bread
with and without sugar. The first variable is whole wheat bread with sugar and white bread with
sugar. It was observed that the whole wheat bread with sugar raised to a maximum dough height
Ishwardat Boodramlall Lab#12 2019/02/14

of 6.4cm while the white bread raised to a maximum of 5.6cm.The reason for this occurrence, was
due to the addition of sugar to the whole wheat bread. This increased the rate of yeast respiration
due to more substrate being present. Thus, more carbon dioxide is produced with respect to time
and the dough height increases. In contrary, the white bread with sugar showed a less maximum
dough height than whole wheat with sugar due to the addition of sugar to the white bread. The
addition of sugar increased the sugar osmolarilty in the white bread. Yeast is a fungus which needs
a high water potential in order to yields it growth. With the concentrated sugar solution yeast
growth will be slow which means less zymase enzyme will be produced to catalyzed yeast
fermentation(Fosbery.2012). Hence, the rate of respiration will be slow and less carbon dioxide
will be produced resulting in a smaller dough height than whole wheat bread with sugar.
In retrospect, the second variable compared was the whole wheat bread without sugar and white
bread without sugar. It was extrapolated that white bread without sugar raised to 6.4 m dough
height at the end of the 50 minutes period. While the whole wheat bread without sugar raised to a
maximum dough height of 4.8cm.The reason the white bread had a higher dough height was due
to it having more sugar than the whole wheat bread. The sugar present in the white bread would
cause yeast respiration to occur thus producing carbon dioxide which in turn increases the dough
height of the bread to 6.4 cm at the end of the 50 minutes time interval. On the other hand, whole
wheat bread has a very minute sugar content as compared to white bread. In this case, sugar is a
limiting factor and the rate of respiration will be slow thus resulting in small carbon dioxide
production. The maximum dough height of the whole wheat bread will be small due to small
carbon dioxide production during the time interval.
Limitation
1. Although yeast has the ability to undergo fermentation to produce ethanol and CO2gas
when oxygen is low, it does not have the ability to survive in oxygen’s absence. If the cell
cannot grow or survive, it will lose its metabolic capabilities and will eventually die
2. Another limitation of yeast fermentation includes temperature. If yeast is placed in an
environment of 50°C or higher, the fermentation process will be inhibited.
3. The enzymes involved in yeast fermentation will denature at very high temperatures and
will no longer be active. A similar limitation involves the concentration of substrate. If too
much substrate concentration is in the cell, a large amount of ethanol will be produced
and the yeast cell will die as a result of such high alcohol concentration

Conclusion
In conclusion,yeast fermentation will occur with a controlled amount of sugar and yeast. It was
proven in this lab that with the presence of sugar the fermentation of yeast would be faster
producing a tasty and palatable bread dough.
Reference
Durant,Claire(2013)Respiration.Retreived from Biology for Cape
Examination.London.Macmillan Education
Ishwardat Boodramlall Lab#12 2019/02/14

Toole,Susan(1999).Respiration. Retrieved from Biology for Advanced Level Fourth

Edition.United Kingdom.Hutchinson Education

Fosbery,Richard(2012).Respiration. Retrieved from Biology Cape Unit 2 study Guide. Nelson

Thornes Ltd United Kingdom