Science

The Science of Bread

● Microorganisms in the production

of food, fuels, and medicines
Do you Know that the microorganism participate in the production of
food, medicine and even fuels ?

Microscopic beings are everywhere and are very

varied. Most of them are fungi and bacteria, some
cause diseases, and others protect us from them. We
have learned to use them for different purposes, such
as in the manufacture of foods (like bread, cheese, and
yogurt), fuels, and medicines. These organisms are
also inserted in nature's nutrient cycle, acting as
decomposers. Therefore, these microscopic beings are
essential for the environment and many human
activities
The Beauty of bread.
 Who are the Mysterious assistants?

The softness of the bread, the aromas of the cheese, the sourness of the yogurt,
and the taste of the wine. All these foods have very different qualities. But these
flavors have something in common. They originate from microorganisms.
And it is not the type of microorganism that contaminates and ruins our
food. They are desirable living beings, who are part of the manufacturing
process of all this. The mysterious helpers are microscopic, but they play a
special role in our cuisine.
Chemical reactions
1. Watch the vídeo below about the experiment: Hydrogen peroxide
mixed with iodide potassium
How does bread dough rise if it is still?

Among the various reactions that a

microorganism can carry out for our
benefit, there is one that can be
considered a superpower. You may have
heard several times that living beings need
oxygen to survive. But some fungi and
bacteria can survive without it! Is it a
superpower or not? This chemical
reaction, which allows them to live
without oxygen, is called fermentation
How is this Chemical Reaction for ?

By providing the right ingredients,

microorganisms can perform exactly the
chemical reactions we want, ultimately
obtaining a desirable product.
Microorganisms can be useful
collaborators. To do this we need to
understand how they work, how their
chemical reactions happen and what they
need to consume.
Fermentation – A Superpowful Chemical Reaction
 Fermentation Process

In the container, we
added yeast, which is
a type of fungus. The
yeast was fed with
sugar during 12
hours.

Can you see the bubbles that appear in the mixture ? Sugar is the food of yeast and, when
consuming sugar during fermentation, it releases two other products: carbon dioxide and
alcohol. So Carbon dioxide is the reason for so many bubbles in the container you observed.
Yeast is microscopic.. The video is a footage of
the culture of this microorganism, done using a
microscope. In it, you can see how the cells of
this fungus are so present in our day-to-day
life.
The same reaction happen in bread dough

when carbon dioxide is formed, the little holes that make

bread grow form and leave it light and fluffy. It's no wonder
that yeast gets another name in our kitchen: ferment.
 Other kind of food result of fermentation

The utility of microorganisms in the manufacture of breads

has already been known since ancient times. But the skills of
these living beings do not stop there. There are many other
foods that we eat every day that are the result of
chemical reactions of fungi and bacteria. See the images
above. You definitely ate at least one of them this week!
 From Bread to Yogurt:
We learned that Fungi and bacteria are important for the
preparation of many foods. The most popular food, bread,
depends on chemical reactions produced by yeasts.
During bread preparation, yeast consumes the sugars of
the dough and produces carbon dioxide, which gets stuck
and forms the holes, leaving a spongy texture in this food.
This type of chemical reaction caused by yeast is
fermentation. It is also through fermentation reactions
that some bacteria, such as lactobacilli, produce yogurt
from milk.
 What is Lactobacilli-type bacteria?

They are present, for example, in yogurt. They are

part of the preparation of this tasty food, and
they are also part of the intestinal protective
army. That is why it is so healthy to consume
yogurt. See the image below to better understand
how bacteria form this essential line of defense
Good bacteria from the
intestine form a for our health.
protective layer that
prevents disease-causing
microorganisms from
installing.
 Lactobacilli-type bacteria

More than half of the cells in our body are not human but bacterial and
most are hidden in the intestine that is the organ that completes the food
digestion process and receives many microorganisms that could cause
diseases. can make us very sick. Fortunately, we have a battalion of
defenders ready to help us. For example, the Lactobacilli-type bacteria
present in yogurt. They are part of the preparation of this tasty food, and
they are also part of the intestinal protective army.  That is why it is so
healthy to consume yogurt.
Steps for experiment – Fermentation
follow these steps:

1. Identify the three cups with numbers 1, 2 and 3,

respectively.
2. Add one tablespoon of biological yeast to each of the
3 cups.
3. Add a sugar spoon to cups 2 and 3. Cup 1 will remain
sugar-free.
4. Wait for the teacher to come to your group so that
he/she adds the warm water in cups 1 and 2 and the
hot water in cup 3.
5. Observe along with your group classmates what
happens in each cup and register the most important
 Did you know that
microorganism can
even save our lives?

Besides leaving our food delicious, fungi and bacteria can be used in the
manufacture of medicines. In fact, one of the most important types of
drugs, the antibiotic, was discovered by chance in a fungus
called Penicillium chrysogenum. 
 Life-saving microorganisms
Culture in petri dish and nourishing
medium of the fungus Penicillium
chrysogenum.
This discovery was one of the most
important in Medicine, because if it was
previously possible to die due to a simple
sore throat, nowadays we have the ability
to cure very aggressive infections.
You can see the image of the growth of
this fungus in a nutritive environment. That
was more or less what Alexander Fleming
saw in his experiment in 1928.
The accidental discovery of Penicillin
 They make our car run ..
Besides helping in the production of some food ,
microorganisms are workers in another type of
factory. The fuel factory. The alcohol powers our
vehicles and fungi and bacteria are important to
both processes!
In fact, alcohol is a category of chemical
substance, and there are several types of alcohol.
The alcohol produced by microorganisms is ethanol,
In Brazil, we use or ethyl alcohol, which is present in beverages and
sugarcane. We are
major ethanol
in gas stations. Normally, yeast is used to produce
producers from this this fuel through fermentation.
raw material.