When a dough is more digestible we have all asked ourselves at least once in our lives, maybe that evening when a pizza or a particular baked product left a bad impression on us and we asked ourselves what we did wrong or what the person who made it did wrong.
There are several theories regarding a hypothetical correlation between leavening and digestibility , the topic is highly debated and it is important to delve into these evaluations to better understand the mechanisms that make us digest more or less well what we eat and which perhaps we do not intend to give up.
Digestible dough: how digestion works
To understand when a dough is more digestible than others, we begin by investigating the digestion process itself, which in truth is not just a process, it includes a series of steps, partly mechanical, partly chemical, all located in the digestive system, aimed at making foods capable of nourishing us.
Depending on the substances ingested, the digestion processes can also change . For example, digestion of carbohydrates begins in the oral cavity through the action of salivary α-amylase and continues in the intestine where glucose and maltose are formed, then the latter is hydrolyzed and goes to form two glucose molecules (monosaccharide). For proteins, digestion begins in the stomach with pepsin, but continues in the intestine with pancreatic peptidases and ends in the small intestine with secreted aminopeptidases.
For fats, everything starts in the mouth with salivary lipase and continues in the intestine thanks to the action of pancreatic lipase, cholesterol esterase and phospholipase A2. Our body is therefore always able to digest a mixture, in the two three components that we have analyzed, independently of the breakdown of its macronutrients.
Digestible dough and leavening
To understand if leavening impacts the digestibility of a dough, let’s find out more about how it occurs. In this phase of strong expansion, equal to several times the original volume of the mass, the viscoelastic properties of the dough and the presence of emulsifying substances that stabilize the gas bubbles come into play
In addition to biological leavening , there are other types such as chemical, physical, with water vapor or with mixed systems but we will analyze the first one which is connected to the presence of compressed yeast composed of living cells or natural yeast composed of yeasts and endogenous lactic bacteria of the flour. At this point we can find ourselves faced with a direct or indirect biological leavening, in the first case the fermentation occurs in at least two phases because the various ingredients are kneaded at the same time and then left to leaven. In phase one, rheological changes are induced in the dough which becomes slightly acidic due to the solubilization of part of the CO2. In phase two, the maximum volume of the dough is reached and is usually left for an hour at a controlled temperature and humidity.
In indirect leavening, the process involves adding the ingredients at different times and forming a biga with portions of yeast, flour and water , then after several hours the other ingredients are added. At this point, when the yeast has reached the optimal fermentation capacity with all the ingredients present, you wait a maximum of one hour for the dough to rise, which must wait another hour, cut and shaped, before being cooked.
Which yeast to use for a more digestible dough
Since so far leavening does not seem to influence the presence of a more or less digestible dough, we can go and consult the research on the benefits of using natural yeast instead of brewer’s yeast. In this case we find some interesting results because we discover that there are differences and natural yeast makes the dough more digestible because it gives a postprandial glycemic response that is decidedly lower than bread and products leavened with brewer’s yeast.
Another factor that influences the digestibility of a dough is the increase in free amino acids , which means that a longer leavening process is preferable because it allows for greater action of the proteolytic enzymes which leads to an increase in these amino acids.
There are several reasons to choose natural yeast, even those that do not concern the quality of our digestion. In fact, the use of this ingredient also has an impact on the conservation of the product . This is linked to the improvement of acidification that natural yeast is able to produce. Its yeast pH, in fact, is able to inhibit the growth and activity of spoilage bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis or Clostridia.
We can also trace the long shelf life of the resulting products back to the acidity level of this yeast, without the appearance of molds that can occur more easily with bread created with brewer’s yeast. There is also an observation to be made on stale bread. It becomes so more quickly when the yeast is brewer’s yeast, natural yeast slows down the staling and is always linked to the acidity level of the dough. A dough is therefore more digestible when the right, natural yeast is used, benefiting from all the other advantages that this ingredient brings with it.
