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Why Bread Dough Rises

7th grade nonfiction passage about yeast and baking: 275 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

7th grade nonfiction yeast and baking 275 words

Why Bread Dough Rises

A lump of dough starts out dense and flat, yet after an hour in a warm kitchen it can double in size. Nothing is being added from outside the bowl. The change comes from a microscopic living organism called yeast.

Yeast is a type of fungus so small that a single gram of baker's yeast contains billions of cells. While it is dry, it remains dormant. When a baker adds warm water and a little sugar or flour, the cells wake up and begin to feed. As the yeast digests sugar, it releases carbon dioxide, which is a gas, along with a small amount of alcohol. Scientists call this process fermentation.

The gas needs somewhere to go. As bakers knead the dough, two proteins in wheat flour join together and form a stretchy network called gluten. Gluten behaves like thousands of tiny balloons, trapping the carbon dioxide inside the dough, so that as more gas collects, the dough gradually puffs up and expands.

Heat completes the transformation. When the dough enters a hot oven, the gas bubbles expand one final time and the yeast cells die, while the alcohol bakes away. The proteins and starches harden into a firm structure, and the bubbles are frozen in place as the holes you can see inside a slice of bread.

Temperature matters a great deal. Yeast works slowly in a cold room and much faster in a warm one. If the water is too hot, however, the yeast can be killed before it accomplishes anything, and the loaf will stay flat. Experienced bakers learn to be patient and to keep the dough comfortably warm instead of hot.

Questions

  1. What tiny living thing makes bread dough rise? in the text

  2. What gas does yeast give off as it eats sugar? in the text

  3. What is gluten, and what does it do in the dough? in the text

  4. What happens to the yeast in a hot oven? in the text

  5. What are the holes inside a slice of bread? think about it

  6. Why would a baker be careful not to use water that is too hot? think about it

Words to know

yeast
a tiny fungus used to make bread rise
fermentation
the change that happens when yeast eats sugar and makes gas
knead
to press and fold dough with your hands
gluten
a stretchy protein network in wheat dough
structure
the way the parts of something are put together
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 253 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.4

A lump of dough starts out thick and flat. After an hour in a warm kitchen, it can double in size. Nothing is added from outside the bowl. The change comes from a tiny living thing called yeast.

Yeast is a fungus. It is so small that one gram of baker's yeast holds billions of cells. When it is dry, it sleeps. A baker adds warm water and a little sugar or flour. The cells wake up and start to eat. As yeast eats sugar, it gives off carbon dioxide, which is a gas. It also makes a small amount of alcohol. Scientists call this fermentation.

The gas needs somewhere to go. When bakers knead dough, two proteins in wheat flour join up. They make a stretchy net called gluten. Gluten works like thousands of tiny balloons. It traps the carbon dioxide inside the dough. As more gas builds up, the dough puffs up and grows.

Heat finishes the job. In a hot oven, the gas bubbles grow one last time. The yeast cells die, and the alcohol bakes away. The proteins and starches get firm. The bubbles are frozen in place. They become the holes you see in a slice of bread.

Temperature matters a lot. Yeast works slowly in a cold room. It works faster in a warm one. But if the water is too hot, the yeast can die before it does any work. Then the loaf stays flat. Good bakers are patient. They keep the dough warm, not hot.

▲ This passage · 275 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7

A lump of dough starts out dense and flat, yet after an hour in a warm kitchen it can double in size. Nothing is being added from outside the bowl. The change comes from a microscopic living organism called yeast.

Yeast is a type of fungus so small that a single gram of baker's yeast contains billions of cells. While it is dry, it remains dormant. When a baker adds warm water and a little sugar or flour, the cells wake up and begin to feed. As the yeast digests sugar, it releases carbon dioxide, which is a gas, along with a small amount of alcohol. Scientists call this process fermentation.

The gas needs somewhere to go. As bakers knead the dough, two proteins in wheat flour join together and form a stretchy network called gluten. Gluten behaves like thousands of tiny balloons, trapping the carbon dioxide inside the dough, so that as more gas collects, the dough gradually puffs up and expands.

Heat completes the transformation. When the dough enters a hot oven, the gas bubbles expand one final time and the yeast cells die, while the alcohol bakes away. The proteins and starches harden into a firm structure, and the bubbles are frozen in place as the holes you can see inside a slice of bread.

Temperature matters a great deal. Yeast works slowly in a cold room and much faster in a warm one. If the water is too hot, however, the yeast can be killed before it accomplishes anything, and the loaf will stay flat. Experienced bakers learn to be patient and to keep the dough comfortably warm instead of hot.

■ Harder · 280 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 9.8

A lump of dough begins as a dense, flat mass, yet after an hour in a warm kitchen it can double in volume. Nothing has been introduced from outside the bowl. The transformation is caused by a microscopic living organism called yeast, which bakers have relied upon for thousands of years.

Yeast is a type of fungus so minute that a single gram of baker's yeast contains billions of individual cells. While dry, it remains dormant. When a baker adds warm water along with a little sugar or flour, the cells awaken and begin to feed. As the yeast digests sugar, it releases carbon dioxide, a gas, together with a small quantity of alcohol, and scientists refer to this process as fermentation.

The gas must be contained somewhere. As bakers knead the dough, two proteins found in wheat flour bond together and form an elastic network called gluten. Gluten behaves like thousands of miniature balloons, capturing the carbon dioxide within the dough, so that as additional gas accumulates, the dough gradually swells and expands.

Heat completes the transformation. When the dough enters a hot oven, the gas bubbles expand one final time, the yeast cells perish, and the alcohol evaporates. The proteins and starches harden into a rigid structure, and the bubbles become permanently fixed as the holes visible inside a slice of bread.

Temperature is enormously important. Yeast works sluggishly in a cold room and considerably faster in a warm one. If the water is excessively hot, however, the yeast may be destroyed before accomplishing anything, and the loaf will remain flat. Experienced bakers therefore learn to be patient and to keep the dough comfortably warm rather than hot.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put yeast, fermentation, knead, gluten and structure on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 3 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Why Bread Dough Rises"?

It was written for 7th grade. It has 275 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 7.0. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 3 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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