Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    Menu
    Natural Sciences
    Health
    History & Humanities
    Space & Astronomy
    Technology
    Culture
    Resources
    Natural Sciences

    Physics

    • Matter and Energy
    • Quantum Mechanics
    • Thermodynamics

    Chemistry

    • Periodic Table
    • Applied Chemistry
    • Materials
    • Physical Chemistry

    Biology

    • Anatomy
    • Biochemistry
    • Ecology
    • Genetics
    • Microbiology
    • Plants and Fungi

    Geology and Paleontology

    • Planet Earth
    • Earth Dynamics
    • Rocks and Minerals
    • Volcanoes
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fossils

    Animals

    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Fish
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
    • Invertebrates
    • Pets
    • Conservation
    • Animals Facts

    Climate and Weather

    • Climate Change
    • Weather and Atmosphere

    Geography

    Mathematics

    Health
    • Drugs
    • Diseases and Conditions
    • Human Body
    • Mind and Brain
    • Food and Nutrition
    • Wellness
    History & Humanities
    • Anthropology
    • Archaeology
    • Economics
    • History
    • People
    • Sociology
    Space & Astronomy
    • The Solar System
    • The Sun
    • The Moon
    • Planets
    • Asteroids, Meteors and Comets
    • Astronomy
    • Astrophysics
    • Cosmology
    • Exoplanets and Alien Life
    • Spaceflight and Exploration
    Technology
    • Computer Science & IT
    • Engineering
    • Inventions
    • Sustainability
    • Renewable Energy
    • Green Living
    Culture
    • Culture and Society
    • Bizarre Stories
    • Lifestyle
    • Art and Music
    • Gaming
    • Books
    • Movies and Shows
    Resources
    • How To
    • Science Careers
    • Metascience
    • Fringe Science
    • Science Experiments
    • School and Study
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Health → Nutrition

Scientists blow bubbles into pizza to make it yeast-free

Technology, meet pizza.

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
March 22, 2022
in Chemistry, News, Nutrition, Physics

Dissolving gas into dough can make pizza grow without the need for yeast, a new study reports. The perfect, yeast-free pizza may be just around the corner.

Yeast has been a staple of bread for thousands of years, causing the dough to rise and develop into the airy structure we know and love. Without yeast, baking bread (and other dough-based products) with the desired characteristics becomes much harder. But not impossible.

A team of researchers from the University of Naples Federico II has developed a method to leaven pizza dough without yeast. They used an autoclave — a machine that used to carry out scientific or industrial processes where high temperatures are necessary (for instance, autoclaves are used to sterilize surgical tools before procedures).

The dough consisting of water, flour, and salt was mixed and placed in an autoclave, and from there, dissolved gas was inserted into the dough at high pressure, a process somewhat similar to how gas is added into soda. Then, the bubbles formed into the dough as the pressure is released during baking. The pressures were relatively low, comparable to those in a coffee maker.

“The key to the process is to design the pressure release rate not to stress the dough, which likes to expand gently,” said author Ernesto Di Maio.

We asked Di Maio what motivated the team to develop this method, and he jokingly said:

“Come on, we are Neapolitans, we always think of pizza!” But on a more serious note, the researcher added that he is allergic to yeast, as are millions of people around the world. In fact, the method could have several key advantages. For starters, it greatly reduces the leavening time, which could be important for restaurants to optimize their process. In addition, the researchers hope that studies like this one can bring polymer processing and rheology of complex fluid to the focus of a larger audience.

The researchers used small pieces of dough to test the rise with and without yeast. Image credits: Francesco Paolo Desiderio.

The team, which included its very own professional pizza-maker/graduate student, does not own a food-grade autoclave yet (but they are getting one) so they could only try the pizza unofficially — but based on what Di Maio told us, there seems to be no difference to regular, yeast pizza.

There are other advantages to the method. For starters, you can customize the dough recipe in many ways — something that is very difficult to do when you have to use yeast. For instance, it’s very hard to make gluten-free pizza in the standard way, but without yeast, it could be much easier. Basically, the technique opens up a whole new world of new ingredients, flavors, and textures that can be used in pizza, Di Maio says. You can also control how fluffy the dough will turn out by controlling the bubble size and numbers.

“We mainly studied how dough behaves with and without yeast. How the softness changes with leavening, and how the dough responds to a temperature program during baking,” said author Rossana Pasquino. “This was fundamental to designing the pressure protocol for the dough without yeast.”

“We had a lot of fun applying things we know well to delicious polymers, instead of our typical and sometimes boring smelly plastics,” Pasquino also added. “The idea of approaching food samples with the same technologies and knowledge used for thermoplastic polymers was surprisingly successful!”

Few things compare to a good pizza.

But the method is still in its incipient phase and there are also challenges. First of all, you need an autoclave, which may be expensive and inaccessible to many restaurants. Some ingredients may simply not be compatible with the method, Di Maio adds, and there are also cost and safety concerns.

Ultimately, many useful things can come out of the study, and the researchers seem to have truly enjoyed the process as well. They’re even starting a new Ph.D. program on food foaming to explore the landscape of new opportunities. After all, as Di Maio concludes, few things compare to the joy of a pizza.

Journal Reference: “Rheology-driven design of pizza gas foaming” is authored by Pietro Renato Avallone, Paolo Iaccarino, Nino Grizzuti, Rossana Pasquino, and Ernesto Di Maio. The article will appear in Physics of Fluids on March 22, 2022 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0081038). After that date, it can be accessed at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/5.0081038.

Was this helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Related posts:
  1. Who invented pizza? A trip down memory lane
  2. How to blow the perfect soap bubbles, explained by science
  3. The cute and bizarre echidnas blow snot bubbles to beat the heat waves
  4. In the fight against obesity, pizza is a prime enemy
  5. Is pizza really like crack? A rhetorical question for the media
Tags: pizza

ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • More
  • About Us

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t you want to get smarter every day?

YES, sign me up!

Over 35,000 subscribers can’t be wrong. Don’t worry, we never spam. By signing up you agree to our privacy policy.

✕
ZME Science News

FREE
VIEW