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Italian scientists hacked pizza physics to make dough without yeast
- reactspa 5y agoAs a home-cook trying to create Indian dishes, it's always intrigued me that internet recipes call for yeast to make "naan" (leavened flat bread), but road side cooks in India can make amazing naan without any yeast (yeast isn't an ingredient in authentic Indian cooking).
- aidenn0 5y agoIs it no yeast altogether, or just naturally occurring yeast? Lactobacillus delbrueckii is probably not in any Greek or Indian cookbooks, but you can't make yogurt without it.
- jfengel 5y agoIt would surely have natural yeast in it, but it isn't given a long time to ferment. It rises solely from the escaping steam, much as crackers and pie crust do. You have to "dock" crackers and pie crust to prevent them from bubbling up too much. Naan is often made with yeast for flavor, but it's not necessary for the rise.
- henryfjordan 5y agoTo make naan like that you need a Tandoor oven, basically a kiln. There's not really a way to replicate that kind of heat at home. The yeast is a way to get similar texture without needing the equipment.
- nanochad 5y ago
- scoofy 5y agoYeast has good flavor
- libraryatnight 5y agoCame to say, I love a hint of yeasty flavor in my pizza crust. Especially if it's with beer.
- libraryatnight 5y agoI finally finished reading this on lunch and realized they note it's good for people with dietary restrictions - so nobody is coming for my yeasty dough, it's just broadening pizza's audience. Cool.
- bcraven 5y agoThat may be, but if you are allergic to it then that's not sufficient reason to eat it. Hacks like this can help allergy sufferers.
- mdoms 5y agoDid you read the article? The researcher is very allergic to yeast.
- ortusdux 5y agoI seem to remember a different group of scientists publishing their successful use of this method to make yeast-free bread maybe 5-10 years ago. I cannot find the publication. I believe that it made the news at the time because they put a space twist on it. It stuck in my memory because I remember wanting to ask a rabbinical scholar if the product would count as unleavened bread.
- cwzwarich 5y ago> I remember wanting to ask a rabbinical scholar if the product would count as unleavened bread. It would (almost certainly) count as leavened bread. Jewish law defines chametz (leavened bread) as a combination of one of five species of grain and water that has been left for a short period of time (usually 18 minutes) without cooking. Maybe they could get the autoclave time down low enough to make it work?
- azinman2 5y agoAt that point you’re just trying to cheat God, and what’s the point of that if you’re so religiously devote that you follow such laws anyway?
- 0des 5y agoSome elevators have sabbath mode.
- azinman2 5y agoPeople also setup timers for lights in their homes. I’ve never understood this. I’m know famous rabbis have found ways to justify this so the orthodox do this, but to me it just feels like you’re cheating the system. Or we just need to redefine what work is. But leavened bread? It doesn’t seem as abstract to define as “work.”
- 0des 5y agoAs I shared in my previous comment, initially I misunderstood the purpose of that tradition as well, but as it turns out, it is less about doing work or consuming a live organism but more about preserving the heritage of the biblical struggles of erstwhile judaic tribes being forced into travel without notice (fleeing Egypt iirc), and the scarcity of more palatable sustenance.
- barbazoo 5y ago> I have to go somewhere and hide because I will be fully covered with bumps and bubbles on the whole body. [...] He's had to swear off bread and pizza, which can make outings in Italy a touch awkward. "It's quite hard in Naples not to eat pizza," he explains. "People would say, 'Don't you like pizza? Why are you having pasta? That's strange.'" Love the inventive spirit but damn that's judgemental.
- vlmutolo 5y agoIt was also my experience that lots of places in Italy don't understand the concept of "no dairy". We tried to look up how to say it, but it loosely translates to "no milk". My brother told every restaurant, "No milk, please." Then they'd give him cheese. So we learned to say, "No milk or cheese." So they gave him pasta in a cream sauce. No milk. No cheese. Just butter.
- 10000truths 5y ago“Non latticini”?
- irrational 5y agoThis reminds me of a scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the aunt, when told the groom doesn't eat meat, responds with "That's okay, I'll make lamb." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFemw_6a-Tg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFemw_6a-Tg
- viggity 5y agothey suggest that the yeast "burp" the carbon dioxide. If they consumed carbon dioxide then expelled it (like when a human drinks a soda) then it would be like a burp. Nay... they consume sugars and OUTPUT CO2. They don't burp. They fart carbon dioxide.
- cwkoss 5y agoVery cool! I asked some bakers whether something like this would be possible a few years ago, and all of them thought it wouldn't work! (To be fair, I thought the dough would have required kneading under pressure) Awesome to see a working PoC.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- legitster 5y agoIt's hard to wrap my head around the "allergic to yeast" thing. Yeast is present everywhere and in the very air we breath. And as the article described, once something is baked the yeast is essentially dead and inert. Perhaps it's a quantity thing, or maybe the specific strain used in mass-market yeasts?
- LosWochosWeek 5y agoMy man, there are people allergic to the sun. --- Forget about that. There are people allergic to themselves. Don't trust your brain to not fuck you up any chance it'll get. Because it will do.
- jrapdx3 5y agoWell, yeah. Allergic to self == "autoimmunity". Happens when body systems (including brain) aren't playing nice with each other. Though the brain is a major immune system organ, whatever we're thinking about at a given moment is highly unlikely to have measurable impact on immune system status.
- yobbo 5y agoProbably commercial baker's yeast. Otherwise, pizza sour dough does not contain yeast other than what's naturally present in the flour. It's grown and multiplied during the process though.
- irrational 5y agoThere are people that are allergic to water. That one blows my mind. You are allergic to the very thing that makes up the majority of your body.
- mabub24 5y agoAre they allergic to water, or what's in the water? Actually, scratch that. Before that --- are they allergic or psychosomatically allergic to it?
- reggedtorespond 5y agoThey could have just used baking powder.
- tomcam 5y agoResults in a spongy, ready, thick product that doesn’t look, taste, or feel like pizza, and lacks the structure to hold everything together.
- anfractuosity 5y agoThere was a company in 1862 that used CO2 to make bread without yeast - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerated_Bread_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerated_Bread_Company https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/df/af/0e/f09d519c4a7d8a/US48534.pdf https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/df/af/0e/f09d519... seems to be the patent for it
- ycombinete 5y agoThat’s cool when you consider that C02 is what yeast level bread with when they excrete it during fermentation.