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leaven |
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leaven (lĕv`ən), agent used to raise bread or other flour foods. Physical leavens include water vapor, which is released as steam at high temperatures (as in popovers), and air, which is incorporated by beating. Chemical leaven (baking powder and baking soda) and biological leavens (yeasts and certain bacteria) raise the mixture by the formation of carbon dioxide gas, which is expanded by heat. Some of the earliest leavens were barm, a yeast of fermenting malt liquor, and sourdough, a portion saved from a mass of dough as a starter for the next batch. leaven 1. any substance that produces fermentation in dough or batter, such as yeast, and causes it to rise 2. a piece of such a substance kept to ferment a new batch of dough How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| A LITTLE reason, to be sure, a germ of wisdom scattered from star to star-- this leaven is mixed in all things: for the sake of folly, wisdom is mixed in all things! Romanticism, which has helped to fill some dull blanks with love and knowledge, had not yet penetrated the times with its leaven and entered into everybody's food; it was fermenting still as a distinguishable vigorous enthusiasm in certain long-haired German artists at Rome, and the youth of other nations who worked or idled near them were sometimes caught in the spreading movement. Hasn't life at Patty's Place been really much brighter and pleasanter this past winter because I've been here to leaven you? |
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