Yeast is a very influential ingredient in a pizza base, as i found out this week. (that's a lie, i already knew that. BUT this week was the week i actually looked into it properly) wikipedia kindly informed me that:
"Yeast, most commonly Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is used in baking as a leavening agent, where it converts the fermentable sugars present in dough into the gas carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to expand or rise as gas forms pockets or bubbles. When the dough is baked the yeast dies and the air pockets "set", giving the baked product a soft and spongy texture."
Put in simple terms, yeast is basically the ingredient in the base that causes the mixture to rise. It is also stated that the yeast gives the dough a soft and spongy texture. by using this information, i am able to hypothesise that the pizza base without yeast in the mixture will not rise as much as the ones in which yeast is an ingredient, and may infact not rise at all. also from this information, it could be hypothesised that the texture of the yeast free base will be very different to that of the bases with yeast. based on this research, i am thinking that maybe taking the yeast out completely is not such a great idea because the dough will be more like pastry then any dough... but ive decided to do it anyway just to test out how much difference there is.
after researching the other ingredients, i have come to the conclusion that i dont think any of them will really impact either the rising height or cooking time but i will test these recipes anyway just to prove it.
so thats all for today i think.
-annabelle x
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Research
So, since my experiment is about how the ingredients of the pizza base impact the time and height of the pizza, i decided that it would probably be a good idea to find out what it is in the ingredients that actually affects these things. that way, i will be able to write an accurate aim and hypothesis and also possibly know what to expect.
what i plan on researching is the properties of each ingredient and whether or not they impact either of the things i am trying to test. the ingredients are flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil. it is a very basic recipe and so there are not many variations to be made. i was thinking that i could try using different brands of yeast maybe, (not sure whether that would make much difference or not) and possibly swapping plain flour for wholemeal flour in one of the recipes.
so anyway, my research is what i will be working on over the next week or so, but this week is going to be busy as i have several assessments and the school dance. I WILL MAKE TIME THOUGH. and i will update you soonish, when i've figured some things out :) :)
what i plan on researching is the properties of each ingredient and whether or not they impact either of the things i am trying to test. the ingredients are flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil. it is a very basic recipe and so there are not many variations to be made. i was thinking that i could try using different brands of yeast maybe, (not sure whether that would make much difference or not) and possibly swapping plain flour for wholemeal flour in one of the recipes.
so anyway, my research is what i will be working on over the next week or so, but this week is going to be busy as i have several assessments and the school dance. I WILL MAKE TIME THOUGH. and i will update you soonish, when i've figured some things out :) :)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Developed Ideas- kind of
okay, so i'm pretty sure i'm going to go with the pizza idea. this blog is the one thats due that i will put all of my information in and hopefully cover all angles of the criteria.
so my plan is to make 5 pizzas, all with similar recipes but different quantities of ingredients in each. i will cook each of these pizzas in the same oven with the same preheating time and temperature to control the temperature variable.
i will also keep the measurements of topping ingredients (cheese and tomato sauce) the same as well as the width and thickness of the base before cooking. these two things will ensure that the only thing that is changing in the pizzas is the ingredients of the base.
yeast is the ingredient in a pizza base that makes the base rise, but i am interested to see whether the base will rise without yeast in it or not. also, which ingredients speed up cooking time for example, more water could slow it down due to a wet mixture.
i will make the first pizza with a basic recipe of:
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp dried yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
i will then make a yeast free pizza made of:
3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
the third pizza will be made with more water:
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
350mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
the fourth pizza will have extra olive oil:
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
3 tbs olive oil
and finally, the fifth pizza will have self raising flour instead of plain:
3 cups SR flour
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
this is just ideas for contents of the pizzas and may change as i research into it more. it is difficult to find out whether or not properties of the ingredients will affect the cooking time or not, but i will continue to do research.
I'm thinking that i will make relatively small pizzas, probably with a diameter of 20cm and a base depth of 1 1/2 cm. these sizes may change depending on how much dough there is though but will stay the same for every pizza.
the independant variables in my experiment are ingredients, size and temperature, and the dependant variables are cooking time and rising height.
Thats all for now, I'll keep you updated on further developments.
- annabelle x
so my plan is to make 5 pizzas, all with similar recipes but different quantities of ingredients in each. i will cook each of these pizzas in the same oven with the same preheating time and temperature to control the temperature variable.
i will also keep the measurements of topping ingredients (cheese and tomato sauce) the same as well as the width and thickness of the base before cooking. these two things will ensure that the only thing that is changing in the pizzas is the ingredients of the base.
yeast is the ingredient in a pizza base that makes the base rise, but i am interested to see whether the base will rise without yeast in it or not. also, which ingredients speed up cooking time for example, more water could slow it down due to a wet mixture.
i will make the first pizza with a basic recipe of:
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp dried yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
i will then make a yeast free pizza made of:
3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
the third pizza will be made with more water:
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
350mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
the fourth pizza will have extra olive oil:
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
3 tbs olive oil
and finally, the fifth pizza will have self raising flour instead of plain:
3 cups SR flour
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
300mL warm water
1 tbs olive oil
this is just ideas for contents of the pizzas and may change as i research into it more. it is difficult to find out whether or not properties of the ingredients will affect the cooking time or not, but i will continue to do research.
I'm thinking that i will make relatively small pizzas, probably with a diameter of 20cm and a base depth of 1 1/2 cm. these sizes may change depending on how much dough there is though but will stay the same for every pizza.
the independant variables in my experiment are ingredients, size and temperature, and the dependant variables are cooking time and rising height.
Thats all for now, I'll keep you updated on further developments.
- annabelle x
Thursday, March 4, 2010
IM BACK :)
Alright, so my internet has been stuffing up all week and it's been very difficult to get it working. Then, when it is working it is extremely slow and tedius to work on which is why I'm writing my blogs in a word document and then I'll post them all when it starts working again. I don't know if that's allowed, but I'm hoping it's okay? As long as I have posted something by the due date right?
Anyway, back to what you actually (maybe) want to read: my SRP assignment progress. So i have been thinking a lot (yes, that may be a tiny exaggeration, but i HAVE been thinking a bit) about what i want to do for my SRP and have come up with the idea that i could investigate how the ingredients in the pizza base impact the cooking time and rising height.
That would mean that I would control the variable ingredients of the topping (cheese and tomato sauce) by keeping them the same on each pizza and only change the ingredients of the base. more research will have to be done as to which ingredients will influence time and height though and which ingredients can be changed without wrecking the quality of the pizzas.
I'm trying not to include taste as one of the aspects of my experiment though, as that is based on opinion and i don't want subjective results. Also, by incorporating taste, I will need to do a lot more work due to having to organise permission slips etc. and I'm not sure whether or not the extra work is necessary.
That's all for now i think,
-Annabelle x
Alright, so my internet has been stuffing up all week and it's been very difficult to get it working. Then, when it is working it is extremely slow and tedius to work on which is why I'm writing my blogs in a word document and then I'll post them all when it starts working again. I don't know if that's allowed, but I'm hoping it's okay? As long as I have posted something by the due date right?
Anyway, back to what you actually (maybe) want to read: my SRP assignment progress. So i have been thinking a lot (yes, that may be a tiny exaggeration, but i HAVE been thinking a bit) about what i want to do for my SRP and have come up with the idea that i could investigate how the ingredients in the pizza base impact the cooking time and rising height.
That would mean that I would control the variable ingredients of the topping (cheese and tomato sauce) by keeping them the same on each pizza and only change the ingredients of the base. more research will have to be done as to which ingredients will influence time and height though and which ingredients can be changed without wrecking the quality of the pizzas.
I'm trying not to include taste as one of the aspects of my experiment though, as that is based on opinion and i don't want subjective results. Also, by incorporating taste, I will need to do a lot more work due to having to organise permission slips etc. and I'm not sure whether or not the extra work is necessary.
That's all for now i think,
-Annabelle x
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
FIRST OFFICIAL BLOG.
Kind of, not really but anyway. I decided that my Hello World blog doesn't really count since it has nothing to do with my actual SRP so technically it is my first blog. ANYWAY, back on track.
So I haven't had many ideas for my SRP but i have had one which will hopefully work if i can carry it out correctly. Since I'm interested in cooking, and my favourite food is cheese pizza, i thought i would do my SRP about cooking cheese pizza.
Due to the many ingredients that would be used in cooking pizza though, there would be a lot of variables. This could be hard to control and would definitely be something i would have to consider in detail before beginning my experiment. I will put more research into what i want to do and update soon.
Love Annabelle x
Kind of, not really but anyway. I decided that my Hello World blog doesn't really count since it has nothing to do with my actual SRP so technically it is my first blog. ANYWAY, back on track.
So I haven't had many ideas for my SRP but i have had one which will hopefully work if i can carry it out correctly. Since I'm interested in cooking, and my favourite food is cheese pizza, i thought i would do my SRP about cooking cheese pizza.
Due to the many ingredients that would be used in cooking pizza though, there would be a lot of variables. This could be hard to control and would definitely be something i would have to consider in detail before beginning my experiment. I will put more research into what i want to do and update soon.
Love Annabelle x
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