We carried out an experiment to answer the question 'What makes yeast work the quickest?' We got busy making dough and made sure that we conducted a fair test by keeping factors the same such as the amount of yeast, the same ingredients, adding the same amount and temperature of water. Our interdependent variable was the temperature of the place where we left the bread to prove. We left some in a cold temperature (the fridge), some in room temperature (the classroom) and some in a hot temperature (an oven that had been heated but then turned off). We checked the bread every fifteen minutes.
It was easy to see that the room temperature worked best as each time we checked the dough was the largest. This was because the yeast cells are most active at room temperature. They cause sugars to ferment and generate carbon dioxide which causes the bread to rise.
With the rest of our day we baked some delicious rolls and when we cut them in half we could see the tiny holes formed by the carbon dioxide. Finally, we ate them. Yum!
