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RAISING/ LEAVENING AGENTS OR PROCESS

Raising agents play very important role in baking to achieve right texture of baked goods.

It is a substance or process which helps to generate, release or entrap steam, gas (CO 2, NH3) or
air in a dough or batter either during cooking or mixing to increase the volume or surface area of
those in order to get a lighter product after baking or cooking.

Types of Raising/Leavening agents or process

1. Biological Raising agent

2. Chemical Raising agent
3. Natural Raising agent
4. Mechanical Raising agent
5. Combination method of Raising

BIOLOGICAL RAISING AGENT

Yeast is known as biological raising agent in bakery, which is mainly used for different fermented
dough and batters mainly in breads.

Saccharomyces cerevisae is the biological name for the most commonly used yeast in industry
which is also known as Baker’s or Brewer’s Yeast.

Yeast is a single celled fungus, capable of reproduction by a budding process in presence of four
elements: moisture, food, air and warmth, yeast can be kept alive but inactive by removing of any
of those one. The main purpose of using yeast in baking is to serve as catalyst in the process of
fermentation.

When all the four criteria are present yeast converts carbohydrates in to CO 2 and ethyl alcohol
(C2H5OH) with the help of four enzymes. This enzymes helps to convert complex sugar in to
simple sugar and then also converts simple sugar to CO2 and alcohol.

ENZYME ACTIVITY

NAME OF ENZYME SOURCE ACTIVITY

Maltase Yeast Converts maltose to dextrose
Invertase Yeast Inverts cane and beet sugar/sucrose to dextrose or fructose
Zymase Yeast Converts inverted sugar and dextrose to CO2 & C2H5OH
Lipase Yeast Converts fats to fatty acids
Protease Yeast Softens flour protein i.e. gluten to give better stretch-ability.

CO2 is the primary raising gas that enhances the volume of yeasted bread, and alcohol evaporates
during baking process leaving behind a delicious flavour and distinctive bread aroma. Activity of
the yeast can be controlled by addition of salt.

Yeast works best in temperature range of 35o to 450 C and it completely dies temperature above
65o C.

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Types of Yeast available in market:

I. FRESH/WET/COMPRESSED YEAST: It is sold in cake form. It has beige colour, crumbly

texture and smell like over ripe or slightly rotten pineapple. In fresh yeast the warmth has
been removed by freezing to make it inactive. This contains 40% yeast and 60% moisture.
Shelf life of this yeast is 10-14 days in refrigerator. Freezing of this yeast is not
recommended as water can become frozen and expanded to rupture the yeast cells. When
fresh yeast gets spoiled it becomes dark in colour and soft as it loses the ability to hold
moisture.
II. ACTIVE DRY YEAST: it is kept alive and inactive by removing moisture from it. This has a
remarkably good shelf life; almost one year. It is available as small round grains. Very
popular among home bakers.
III. INSTANT DRY YEAST: it can be used directly with the flour; making of yeast ferment is not
required for this variety. It is sold in vacuum packets as this type of yeast is kept alive and
inactive by removing both air and moisture.

CHEMICAL RAISING AGENTS

Few very popular chemical raising agents are

I. BAKING SODA: Sodium Bi Carbonate (NaHCO3). It reacts in moist acidic medium to

release CO2 as major raising gas. It will not work if no acidic ingredients are in recipe.
Acidic ingredients can be like fruit juice, sour cream, butter milk, cocoa, vinegar etc.
Too much of baking soda can cause a soapy taste in final products. Baking soda must be
stored in a cool dry place in an airtight container.

II. BAKING POWDER: Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it includes the acidic
agent already (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch) which helps the
powder to avoid humidity and prevent releasing of gas inside container. To make baking
powder more affordable, mono-calcium phosphate can be used in place of the tartaric acid.
When water or liquid mixed with this powder soda bi carb and cream of tartar reacts to
release CO2.

Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting

baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake
recipes which include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in
two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas
is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the
gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven. Sodium
aluminium sulphate is added to the baking powder formula to make double-acting baking
powder. Sodium aluminium sulphate is an insoluble crystalline powder. Although it is acidic
by nature, it refuses to interact with sodium bicarbonate unless fully melted, delaying any
reaction until it is warmed above 1400F/60oC.

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III. CREAM OF TARTAR: this fine powder is a residue from wine fermentation casks. It doesn’t
directly work as raising agent but helps to activate baking soda and also an important part
of baking powder. Cream of tartar also helps to strengthen egg protein so that it can hold
more air after whisking.

IV. AMMONIUM CARBONATE/ SALT OF HARTSHORN/SAL VOLATILE: Very useful raising

agent generates ammonia and CO2 during baking. But repulsive smell of ammonia is the
main problem to use this. Mainly used with strong flavouring agents or in a product which
are baked for complete drying like cookies or biscuits.

NATURAL RAISING AGENT

Steam or water vapour is the natural raising agent and it works on almost all bakery
products. The moisture presents in dough or batter during cooking converts into steam
which creates a pressure upward to make a lighter and fluffy products. Eg: pita bread
pockets, Indian chapatti, panipuri etc.

MECHANICAL RAISING AGENT/PROCESS

I. WHISKING: this a process where using balloon beater/hand whisk liquid (mainly egg,
egg white, cream or water – protein solution) are agitated to incorporate air bubbles to
make the liquid foamy or light, example; whole egg sabayon for sponge cake or Spanish
omelette, whipped cream for mousse, soufflé or other desserts.

• To understand why introducing air bubbles makes egg proteins uncurl, you
need to know a basic fact about the amino acids that make up proteins. Some
amino acids are attracted to water; they’re hydrophilic, or water-loving. Other
amino acids are repelled by water; they’re hydrophobic, or water-fearing. Egg-
white proteins contain both hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids. When
the protein is curled up, the hydrophobic amino acids are packed in the center
away from the water and the hydrophilic ones are on the outside closer to the
water. When an egg protein is up against an air bubble, part of that protein is
exposed to air and part is still in water. The protein uncurls so that its water-
loving parts can be immersed in the water—and its water-fearing parts can
stick into the air. Once the proteins uncurl, they bond with each other—just as
they did when heated—creating a network that can hold the air bubbles in
place
• Authentic whipped cream is a classic and popular colloid used in various
drinks and deserts worldwide. When the cream is whisked and sugar and
flavoring are added in slowly. While whisking, air bubbles can be seen forming
on the top of the cream, this same occurrence is happening in the cream, but
is not directly seen. Instead of the bubbles going to the surface and leaving
the cream, they remain dissolved into the cream forming a colloid. As more
and more air molecules are put into the cream, the volume of the cream
increases dramatically. However, with time the trapped air will leave the
whipped cream and become a liquid again. The process of air leaving is
accelerated with an increase of temperature.

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II. CREAMING: Creaming is one of the most important mixing methods used in the
different recipes. It incorporates the maximum amount of air bubbles created by dry
crystalline sugar, typically fine granulated white table or super-fine, or brown sugar,
beaten with plastic solid fat (stick butter or margarine, shortening or lard), so a recipe
will rise in the oven and be light in texture when baked. The cake rises from these air
bubbles incorporated expanding from the heat of the oven, steam generated from the
liquid ingredients and from carbon dioxide generated from the chemical leaveners or
baking powder and/or baking soda. Recipes mixed with the Creaming Method, are
typically SHORTENED (BUTTER) CAKES and some COOKIES. You will recognize it
when the recipe indicates: "Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy"; or
"Beat butter and sugar together until light in color and creates soft peak";

This can be done by beating the fat and sugar/flour together or by rubbing fat with
flour/sugar on a surface following a circular motion.

III. LAMINATION: This method is designed to produce a laminated structure in which thin
layers of tough fat are interleaved with equally thin layers of dough. When we bake the
pastry; the thin layer of fat melts and form oily layers between two leaves of dough
preventing them from sticking together, or simply it lubricates the doughy layers. As the
heat penetrates more, the water in the doughy layer as well as in fat layers changes into
steam. The steam finds its way between the various layers of dough, and causes
expansion of elastic gluten strands or films of the dough by pushing lubricated doughy
layers apart from each other. This produces a great increase in the volume of the piece
of the pastry. Later the gluten of the flour is coagulated while the excess water is dried
out, so by that time it is properly cooked and able to retain the shape and fluffy volume.
Example: Puff pastry, croissant, Danish pastry, Indian lachha breads etc.

DOUGH
DOUGH
FAT FAT HAS MELTED,
HEAT STEAM WANTS TO
DOUGH
ESCAPE,
HENCE,PUSHING UP
THE UPPER LAYER OF
DOUGH
DOUGH

IV. SIEVING: While sieving flour or powder sugar those powder fall on the surface forming
a pile which entraps air, this also considers as a minor raising process.

COMBINATION METHODS

While a baking product is made using more than one of those major methods of raising they are
known as raised by combination methods.

Few popular example:

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• Danish Pastry: Lamination and biological

• Cakes: creaming, whipping(mechanical) and chemical

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