Novel Sources of Saccharomyces Species as Leavening Agent in Bread Making

Mega biodiversity of Nigerian's flora and fauna which include microorganism could be conserved and served as alternative source for baker's yeast, the leavening agent in bread making. This study was conducted in attempt to exploit the potential of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from two local beverages "burukutu" and "fura" and a tropical fruit shaddock as a leavening agent in bread making. The enrichment was carried out by fermenting the samples burukutu, fura and Shaddock juice in medium containing sterilized grape must at 30°C for 3 days followed by isolation of tentative yeasts at 30°C for 3 days. The samples tested showed the presence of yeasts and thirty 30 isolates from the three samples was selected for identification of S. cerevisiae strains through biochemical and physiological tests. Of the thirty yeast strains identified, 12 strains were chosen as baker's yeast due to their potential to tolerate ethanol concentration of up to 13 v v , grow at temperature of 30 - 45°C and low or no hydrogen sulphide production. They are able to flocculate intensively, grow at high stress levels and even showed better fermentative performance compared to commercial baker's yeast CY . These attributes thus indicate that the local beverages and fruits could be potential sources of indigenous S. cerevisiae strains for leavening agent in bread making and for other confectionary industries. Umeh, S. O | Okpalla, J. | Okafor, J. N. C. "Novel Sources of Saccharomyces Species as Leavening Agent in Bread Making" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-3 | Issue-2 , February 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd21526.pdf