12
Yeast salt reaction
(lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2025
12 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Science
15458 readers
12 users here now
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I agree that it is unlikely to be a chemical reaction. Instead, I suspect you are nucleating bubbles for the dissolved gasses in the solution (think diet coke and mentos).
When yeast is active, it creates CO~2~ as a byproduct. This is how you get bubbles on the top of your solution when you are blooming the yeast. This gas byproduct is also dissolved into the water as well. Letting it sit for that long would give it plenty of time to completely saturate the liquid (or even supersaturate it depending on environmental changes).
When you throw the salt in, those salt crystals act as a nice nucleation point allowing those dissolved gases to form a bubble and leave the liquid phase. I can't really speak to how salt behaves differently to flour in this regard, but nucleation rate is proportional to the available surface area for nucleation, and salt crystals tend to not clump up nearly as much as flour, making more surface area accessible for nucleation.
I suspect you already know this since you make so much bread, but, I was always taught that introducing an osmotic shock like adding salt directly to your yeast will slow down the rising/proofing process. So, it would be best to add the flour, then the salt on top, then mix them together to help blunt the osmotic stress on your yeast.
Had to scroll past some random factoids before getting to this answer.