How Does Sugar Affect Bread Dough? The Effects of Sugar Explained

Let us look at how sugar affects yeast and subsequently bread. Why you should and why you should not use sugar. Sugar is hygroscopic meaning that it attracts water. Salt is also hygroscopic. Yeast needs water to be active. We all know that salt slows down fermentation for this exact reason. It robs the yeast of water. Sugar does the same by pulling moisture ouf through the cell walls of the yeast.
So, in short - sugar will not ‘feed’ the yeast. It will not speed up fermentation. It will only slow it down. You will see a significant decrease in yeast activity starting from around 10% sugar in the dough. But even 5% will slow it down as I demonstrate in the video.
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#Bread #Baking #ChainBaker

[@DeminicusSCA]

very good video! and good method , clear delivery . a few points , yeast does not make amylase is any significant quantity to make sugar , and only does so after budding a few times ( 24+hrs). The process of converting complex carbohydrates in to simply sugars is a hydraulic in action , (Hydrolysis) It is the water, that do to attractions cleave the glycosidic bonds in the Polysaccharide. what that means for dough is that, with water there will be a slow but steady creation of sugar , more water and more heat the faster it goes, add ,amylase enzymes and it really takes off. Yeast when processed for baking are loaded up on food before freeze drying. they have alot of sugar inside them and will ferment their own stores. yeast will froth just being placed in pure water. By added more sugar to your dough you are reducing the available water to Hydrosis . Further more yeast can make Sucrase an enzyme that converts table sugar ( sucrose a disaccharide - two sugars stuck together) in to two monosaccharides: glucose and fructose, this process takes time and effort for the yeast and is triggered by the presents of sucrose, by adding the table sugar you cause the yeast to make Sucrase rather than just get to work on the food that is already there. lastly and most important , many flours including all purpose flour contain malted barley !!! the malted grain is loaded with amylase and will get right to work making food for the yeast, its not the yeast making food its that malted flour and water :)

[@ChainBaker]

Now that is perhaps the most informative comment on this channel. Thank you so much for the explanation. Definitely opened my eyes to a couple of facts. Pinning this so that everyone gets to read it. Cheers 😎

[@gmanGman12007]

Thats some different degree of KZbin comment :D

[@gmanGman12007]

As for unmalted flour, how much barley malt would you recommend spiking it with per 1kg of flour lets Say? Sourdough bread is the purpose or sourdough baguette

[@equinoxshadow7190]

And kneading dough with bare hands places a small amounts of sweat and oil into the dough. But I am not germophobic, so it does not bother me. As long as the cook/baker washes their hands before getting to work. I do like using some honey and malted barley in some of my bread dough. Now ChainBaker has a large metal bracelet. The bracelet could end up touching the dough, I am not too sure how clean his metal bracelet is? I recommend not wearing any watches, rings or bracelets when cooking.

[@ChainBaker]

Since I'm kneading with my right hand the bracelet never really touches the dough. Besides, I'm only baking for myself so I don't mind. And I clean that chain regularly. Would never wear it at work where I cook for other people obviously.

[@ringo_____94]

"why are we using the ingredients that we use?" I wish more people asked themselves that. Learning what each ingredient does to a recipe makes it so much easier to experiment and create your own. It gives you freedom in the kitchen!!

[@seanleith5312]

I was watch the video, then the tattoo popup. Disgusting.

[@ChainBaker]

Brilliant 😂 thanks Sean 👍

[@philip6502]

@@ChainBaker 😂

[@ChainBaker]

I know right 😁 I hope he survived the ordeal 😂

[@SylviaRustyFae]

My favourite example of this in history is not to do with a food recipe but it did involve honey! The first recipe for gunpowder used honey and for quite a while honey was still used just bcuz it was used by those who came before so it must be doin somethin. They eventually had some alchemists actually experiment and find that the honey wasnt necessary, nor the birchroot wort, nor any of the other additives beyond the few basic ingredients that actually do all the work.

[@jorgedeleon2063]

This is the stuff people should be watching instead of TikTok quick recipes. People don't want to learn the how or why of stuff anymore, they want everything handed to them. Great video man! Love it!

[@chrisblanc663]

So true. That is the number one reason I don’t go on tik tok.

[@sandman62100]

@@chrisblanc663the video is only 8 minutes long. You're acting like it's a 3 hour video

[@chrisblanc663]

@@sandman62100 do I? I just don’t care for tick tock, and prefer the slightly longer format on KZbin.

[@mikey19608]

I just started baking breads few months ago, following recipes, most of the time not fully happy with the results, I always wanted to understand the science behind each ingredient so the final product is the way I like it not the way the recipe is or the way someone else likes it. Discovering your channel is helping me tremendously specially the way you explain things in a simple form. Thanks for your awesome videos.

[@ChainBaker]

Thanks Mike! I'm so glad I could help you with your baking journey :)

[@mikezetts1]

This was certainly an eye opener for a guy that has been baking bread regularly for over 35 years.

[@elonever.2.071]

Now it makes sense that when I started making dough I was told to boil a white potato in water, let it cool and use that to feed the yeast. I did notice a big difference in the proofing size of the bread but I never understood why. Thanks.

[@eamonpoplin8540]

I can’t believe how much this one tip - leaving out sugar - would fix a chronic problem. I’ve been baking bread for four decades, but I never knew that adding sugar was unnecessary! I have to be gluten-free these days, but leaving out the sugar fixed an ongoing overproofing problem. Thank you!

[@mohadi7245]

We used to add 1-3% sugar to dough to make the bread softer as it brakes the gluten strands, to make the bread tenderer as it retains more water, stays fresh longer due to the water content, and also the bread with sugar reheats much better especially for flat breads.

[@Alanoffer]

My bread has been transformed by letting the dough proof for 8 hours , then kneeding and proof for another hour , it’s transformed the quality of the finished loaf

[@quick9smitty511]

Thank you! I have avoided breads that have no sugar because I was afraid the results would be inferior. I too have been under the impression that sugar was a "must" in baking with yeast. No more sugar in my pizza dough!

[@lilyhong1220]

I love when cooking and baking is taught in percentage instead of strict amounts of stuff! Makes it easier to remember and learn

[@ScribblebytesWorldwide]

Yes! I uses to struggle until I started using ratios. I weigh everything now, even eggs. And my baking has improved 30000%. I used to majorly suck at baking but awesome at cooking. Now I just need to perfect a full bread loaf. I need something to cover it for the 2nd proof (or should I say fermentation?)😉 but I haven't figured out what to use.

[@fizakusnin2961]

Hi lily! I'm really bad at baking anytg and just started to like baking recently andddd failed all the times 😂... So how do we determine the percentage? It's the sugar percentage ur talking about, right? And since this video clearly showed that sugar isnt needed, may I know is there any other percentage we need to know? Please teach me all of it hahaha. Last one: errr, why do we need salt? 😅 (clearly a baker-virgin here 😆)

[@kiawang6220]

@@fizakusnin2961 Bread made without salt tastes bland. Optimum amount is 1.8% of the weight of flour. It ranged from 1% to 2.5%. First try 1.8% by weight. If too salty to you then reduce. If not salty enough then add more.

[@ArifBillahOnGoogle]

I watched your "Effect of salt on dough" videos two days ago. Before this I tried to make bread but the dough wouldn't even grow bigger even after 1 hour. But after I saw what salt did to dough, I tried today without any salt. And SubhanAllah! The dough is more than double after 1 hour. Thank you for teaching us why recipes work the way they do. ♥️

[@iutubsacs]

Well ok, but it will taste bad, so what's the usability of this fact?

[@sandriagutierrez2605]

I stopped adding sugar to yeast years ago. I simply add the yeast to the flour, then proceed with mixing/kneading. Works for me.

[@wowman142]

Hi, yeast metabolic engineer here. I doubt the slowed fermentation when you add sucrose is due to hygroscopic properties. What happens when you add sugar is more likely that the yeast changes its metabolism to prioritize using the sucrose first (it’s a more preferable energy source). When sucrose is present the SUC2 invertase protein is secreted from the yeast into its environment to degrade sucrose (table sugar) into free glucose and fructose, which can be directly eaten by the yeast. This is more efficient than breaking down starch to get glucose. So what is actually happening is that the yeast is focusing on producing the invertase protein, and breaking down sucrose, rather than focusing on breaking down starch. The effect is that your fermentation profile changes which is why your fermentation times change, and in particular: you don’t degrade the starch as fast. This is why you can leave a sugar-rich dough for longer without it becoming a puddle. The gluten is not degraded until much later due to the yeast focusing on using the sucrose first. It may be that hygroscopy plays a role as well, but I think the metabolism is the main culprit

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you for the valuable information. I always learn a lot from the comments section, and anyone who reads this will find it useful too ✌️

[@greatagqc1942]

So good ! ... now (with all your videos) I understand better what and why my results are what they are !

[@aqueenathekitchen]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! This is so helpful.

[@gentgreen354]

Thank you for this video!

[@dougw4008]

Love the side by side experiments.

[@ChainBaker]

That's me - have to see it to believe it 😄

[@Jesse-ly8nl]

Most insightful baker on KZbin by a country mile - well done sir!

[@AvantikaDhirglitterarty]

I have had these questions for SO LONG and finding your channel has been a blessing.. such amazing content! Thank you for teaching us the science behind baking which not many people seem to be talking about.

[@ChainBaker]

🙏

[@truthreignsfacts4997]

Excellent instructions! As a perfumer I use the same principle. Every ingredient or fragrance oil added has a purpose. Otherwise the fragrance is compromised especially when developing for challenging products. Your video makes perfect sense. Thank you! I will stop adding sugar..

[@ChainBaker]

Oh that sounds like an interesting job! Can you actually learn it or do you have to have a gifted nose? Excuse my curiosity :D

[@arnmiu8211]

I am pretty new in bread baking. I hate that sweetness of added sugar in bread with yeast, but the recipes say you have to add it and I did not have the bravery to try without sugar. Thank you for explaining!

[@garylester8621]

You answered another of my bread questions, THANK YOU .

[@YellyellyellYellyellyell]

Thank you for sharing this very useful info.

[@williamb5484]

Very helpful for me, thank you.

[@danbecker5122]

Thank you. Very well done video and you answered all the questions I needed to know about.

[@andrewwolfe2071]

Now, THAT, was helpful! Thank you! Subscribed!

[@toxicrune]

Thank you for posting. Yours videos are some of best when it comes to bread making.

[@rob51860]

Mind Blown !!! Thank you!!!

[@cyberprompt]

thank you. i've been happy with my dough so far, but this opens my eyes a LOT.

[@rukh397]

This channel literally answers all of my bread questions. Thank you for sharing this very valuable knowledge with us🙏

[@genegroover3721]

Awesome job!!!

[@alnwick00]

I've always wonder about this topic. Thanks for sharing.

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you!

[@nuthintoprove]

I love the scientific approach, and your videos are clearly the best I've come across so far. I'm a big fan!!

[@thstudio007]

Thanks! Nice explanation. Learned a lot :D

[@hazelbraitman7091]

Excellent episode!

[@maxor1986]

Fantastic Video! Thanks a lot!

[@pogimacho]

thank you for the good explanation

[@HernanMaroniV]

Perfectly explainded! Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge!! Cheers from Argentina!

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you, Hernan!

[@marco-boss]

Great info. and very good videos.

[@AlexanderPoznanski]

Exellent work you did and showed for us! It is fully clear now the meaning of sugar for smooth crust and for clean surface of slices. It is used, for example, in a long loaf for eating its slices with butter. Butter is nicely covering on clean slices.

[@sergiostruve4143]

Excelente video, mi sincero agradecimiento y felicitación por su esfuerzo al realizarlo. Me ha sido muy útil! 👍

[@maryphaneuf9289]

ThIS was the first lesson my father would teach in biology each September! XOXO

[@leechunli]

I love this video, thank you for this experiment...

[@ssbb9636]

Very simple idea and great demonstration.

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you 🙏

[@J0rd4nBr0]

Amazing channel. Thank you

[@insch.9547]

This is an amazing information

[@feliciaowusu8030]

Wonderful. Why we do what we do. Thanks sir

[@yehaniwijekoon3212]

Thank you very much for the explanation. I really needed to hear every single word of this❤️

[@ChainBaker]

Glad it was helpful! :)

[@BaraquielCastelli]

Ah! This kind of channel is what I've been looking for! The "why" of things finally explained! Thank you!

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you! :)

[@mothtv]

Another fantastic video. Learning so much from you.

[@ChainBaker]

🙏

[@americanrebel413]

This was great, thank you.

[@tumanalang]

Thanks for explaining and showing in this video the effect of sugar on the bread dough. Haha I am one of those who force feed my yeast and end up getting disappointed with my bread. I am a beginner in baking. I don't like baking but I love bread and the smell of fresh bread, so I want to learn how to make my own bread. This is precious info that I will definitely remember because it shows me the effects. It is also helpful that you use description of the feel of the dough "pancakey" for the viewers to get the sense of the texture. This is my first time watching any of your videos, looking forward to learn more.

[@damoncz]

Congratulations! Looks like you are going viral and your channel very well deserve it. Your content are quite informative. Well done!

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@mattsanchez4893]

Great no nonsense informative video

[@y2ksw1]

That was insightful!

[@mahuda5898]

very informative

[@gweckesser]

Excellent video!!! Thank you very much for the effort.

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you 🙏

[@ajl8198]

Thank you for being so thorough. I love your channel i just discovered you and i am so excited to watch more

[@ChainBaker]

Welcome to the channel :)

[@CarlosMoraesCom]

Thanks a lot for this practical explanation!!!

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you, Carlos!

[@rubyfire9666]

My mom never used sugar with flour. Now I know why!

[@jaycal1920]

Your advice can be applied to a lot more than just baking bread. Great video. Good to know.

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you!

[@tinadanny2843]

Thank you for sharing 🤗 🤗🤗

[@LoriG555]

WOW! I have been baking homemade bread all these years and had no idea about sugar properties. I knew how salt effected yeast but not sugar. Thank you so much.

[@jeydub8541]

Excellent video. Thank you.

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you, Jeffrey!

[@gmanGman12007]

What an awesome chanel. Helps so much to clarity certain aspects of working with the dough even of you are advanced home Baker.

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you 🙏 I'm glad you're finding it useful 😊

[@allanmachado878]

brilliant video sir! congratulations, and thank you!

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you ! :)

[@khosrofakhreddini7824]

Excellent. I finally know why I put sugar in my dough!

[@stephenkormanyos766]

Brilliant! Thank you so much for this discussion. I bake bread often and greatly appreciate your insights. Steve K.

[@ChainBaker]

Glad it was helpful! :)

[@infonestor2725]

Great video and explaination on the influence of sugar versus " a sugarless " roll"..5 of 5 stars

[@Alpemomi]

I'm repeating myself: Love your scientific approach!

[@rubencaro4959]

You have opened my eyes! 😇

[@UmarAlFarooq]

Wow, thank you for the enlightening video!

[@ChainBaker]

🙏

[@MikaelLindberg]

Your videos are the best! A new Alton Brown! Thank’s!

[@thanhngale5060]

This surprised me. I need to test thissssss. Thankss

[@fernandopardo9478]

Thank you for such evidence proved information, never heard about your channel, thanks again.

[@petewoodhead52]

Great information.

[@ChainBaker]

🙏

[@cameltube-vk7el]

Your cooking acumen is the style, data, & information I was really hoping I could run across trying to help my daughter cook. Your dropping next level proper teaching " THANK YOU

[@ChainBaker]

Cheers! 😁

[@smilyanasimeonova5633]

Deffinitely gained a new subscriber. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@ChainBaker]

Welcome aboard! :) Here is part 2 for this video btw - kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXW8hJewqJiXp8k

[@smilyanasimeonova5633]

I'm mostly interested in sweets right now and I'm trying to understand the insights of baking, that's what makes cooking so pleasing for me; understanding the logic behind things. It's a kind of art basically. So glad I found this channel.

[@richardordonez8331]

This is the only way to debunk these methods. I was taught sugar and yeast and never questioned. Similarly, I did a taste test with hot peppers. The veins are hoter than the seeds, but no body questioned

[@mytech6779]

The seeds actually have no spice of their own, they are only spicy because they were touching the veins. (Roasted and ground the seeds have a nice flavor though, different from normal chile powder.)

[@moonpigeon]

Awesome thank you

[@RobMarchione]

I’ve literally made the third lot again, when it cane out it was definite proof of my mistake. Thank you kindly for the video

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Great video 👏👏👏👏👏 really interesting

[@nganboykaw3601]

Tq from Malaysia Kuala Lumpur. Love and Gratitude 🙏

[@ChainBaker]

🙏

[@alphacentauri2506]

excellent!

[@TheSynStalker]

I came here to learn about sugar's effects on dough and got a free critical thinking lesson! Excellent channel and video

[@ChainBaker]

Cheers ✌️😎

[@enjoymusic1217]

thank you very much for this enlightening information. I came across your channel by chance, I make easter cakes from semolina and lots of butter and I do not put any sugar and very little yeast, and we decorate the akes which are small ones. It happened once that I used more yeast and the decoration disappears because the yeast makes the cakes enlarge. My mother did not use any sugar to make the pitta bread, but I would prefer to use a little oil with the pita bread in order to make it less chewy.

[@annievik6551]

The how and why... Thank you. New subscriber!

[@ChainBaker]

Welcome to the channel :)

[@bevdavis2135]

Thank you for this lesson. I have started baking Breads and am enjoying this activity so much. Knowing the intricacies of the processes is very exciting. Your narratives are so easy to comprehend and your voice is so easy on the ears. Thank you🙂

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you so much, Bev! :) I'm glad you're enjoying the process. I have a lot more interesting videos planned. Cheers!

[@Texsoroban]

where have you been all my life? this info is gold

[@ChainBaker]

:))

[@BargB]

Ohh I've been using sugar to boost the ferment. But it's actually make sense it dont. This channel is such a gem, tysm!

[@jjjohn5914]

Thank you....excellent

[@ChainBaker]

🙏

[@krauz111]

wow great info

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

Very interesting. Thanks!

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you 🙏

[@xgamingpoorly92]

Fantastic!

[@dianaliao5923]

Thank you so much for your videos, you are an angel for all of us. What I heard about adding sugar to the dough: it will help to preserve and have a moist bread, since we do not add chemicals to do it, as big bakeries and fabrics do. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@zenakamar7839]

Thank you

[@honeybadger6127]

this helps a LOT.. thanks!

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you! :)

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Love this series

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you! :) I will make more videos like this 👍

[@maticrzen123]

I realy like your chanel, lots and lots of usefull informations. I would never thought sugar would have that kind of affect on the dough and finished bread. You are doing a great job! thank you.

[@ChainBaker]

Thank you so much! 🙏