African Journal of
Microbiology Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Microbiol. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0808
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJMR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 5225

Article in Press

Baker’s yeast: A review

P. Saranraj and P. Sivasakthivelan

  •  Received: 16 November 2015
  •  Accepted: 05 May 2016
Baker’s yeast is the most widespread food microbial starter. Its main function is to produce gas, more specifically to raise dough made from flour and to provide bakery products with an aerated structure. Since the beginnings of the baker’s yeast industry, much effort has been devoted to optimize growth conditions to get high biomass yield in fermentation tanks and gassing power in dough. However, there is a limit to the effect of growth conditions to improve the performance of commercial yeast. The latter is a concentrate of yeast cells obtained from a single strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a strain which is a particular line of descendants sharing the same properties. This is why baker’s yeast manufacturers have shown much interest on the selection of the strains they grow. In the present review, baker’s yeast S. cerevisiae, historical development of baker’s yeast, genetic characteristics of baker’s yeast, biochemistry of baker’s yeast growth, biochemical and molecular identification of baker’s yeast, fermentation of baker’s yeast, downstream processing of baker’s yeast and future perspectives of baker’s yeast were discussed.

Keywords: Baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, genetic characteristics, biochemical characteristics, molecular identification, fermentation and downstream process.