Presenters: Tyler Hacking
Authors: Tyler Hacking, Jonathan Cook, Clayton Rawson, Geoffrey Zahn
Faculty Advisor: Geoffrey Zahn
Institution: Utah Valley University
In bread fermentation, yeasts use sugars to produce ethanol and CO2 which form pockets, in addition they produce secondary chemicals as waste in the form of molecules called terpenes (flavors). The goal of this research was to observe overall preference in the flavors produced by different yeast varieties expressed in the form of bread. To gather this data, we cultured yeast from a dead wasp after separating it in antibacterial agar plates. Then we extracted, amplified and sequenced the yeast DNA for positive identification. After we confirmed it was a fungal yeast, it was used to bake bread in contrast to three genetically engineered yeasts used for baking and wine brewing. The dead wasp yeast named Rhodotorula Graminis WP1.Flavor was the most important factor of individual scores, with smell being the second most important. The yeast’s role in texture was insignificant compared to smell and taste when determining the overall score of the bread. Based on individual data, the wasp yeast could be considered the most controversial. If the taste tester rated bread C similarly on all scores, their scores for the other bread varied greatly. Essentially the scores of the non-dead wasp yeast breads (which were all varieties of Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was based on their opinion of Rhodotorula Graminis WP1. The Rhodotorula Graminis WP1 also had the fastest rate of rise and height of rise.