Loading of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with glycerol leads to enhanced fermentation in sweet bread doughs

Addition of exogenous glycerol to yeast coupled with a period of storage under refrigerated conditions allowed for influx of the polyol and equilibration of ifs intra-and extracellular concentrations. Glycerol-added yeast exhibited greater fermentation activity when inoculated into sweet bread doughs than yeast to which no exogenous glycerol was added. This effect was found for all yeast strains investigated. Glycerol addition also resulted in significantly greater maintenance of the sweet dough fermentation activity of yeast when stored for up to three weeks at 4 degrees C. Improvements were manifested when yeast were in aqueous or in compressed form. The effect of glycerol was dose- and equilibration-time dependent. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.