Saccharomyces boulardii

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Anonymous on 28 Mar 2018 at 13:19

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used for Baker's Yeast and is actually very common in our sourdough starters too. 

I'm wondering about the benefits in using over the counter probiotics like Saccharomyces boulardii for baking bread whether using it as a straight swap, making a poolish or even adding some to a levain. 

Could I expect a bread with a different leavening ability or flavour? 

I don't think yeast produces as much flavor as the bacteria in SD starters.  Yeast will drive metabolism to CO2 which of course is necessary for bread rise.  One reference I saw states that S. boulardii is a simple variant of S. cerevisae with 99% of the genome in common between the two.  It's likely you won't see much of a difference if you use it provided it metabolizes sugars at the same rate.

First the excerpt:

  • Most studies on beneficial ingested microbes including probiotics have focused primarily on bacteria. However, beneficial roles have been ascribed to certain yeasts, such as the sugar-fermenting Saccharomyces[1]. Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) are two closely related strains used either as a probiotic or in the preparation of food and wine. The two strains have been closely examined; revealing that although they are nearly identical at a molecular level, S. boulardii shows more physiological resistance to heat and acid stressors[2]. It should also be noted that S. boulardii does not produce ascospores or use galactose, while S. cerevisiae does[3,4].

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5192264/

I'm wondering if this touches on the point you have made. Think I might put together a preferment using Flour, S. Boulardii and Yoghurt with live culture for the lactic acid bacteria. See what I get.

It's worth an experiment to see what happens.  I have also seen some recipes that use yogurt but I don't think yogurt cultures (which are also lactobaccili) survive when one is making a SD starter.  the traditional L. sanfraniscoensis out competes them.

Making a preferment rather then trying to cultivate a starter to keep. Yoghurt lacks yeast but has the right kind of bacteria. The yeast will be this S. Boulardii and together we'll have a kind of sourdough type culture except not one which has the usual types of yeasts in it (albeit very similar). I won't add in any of my sourdough starter. We'll see what type of bread comes out.

Thank you Alan.

Love your thought process here, Abe. Looking forward to your findings.

”nothing ventured, nothing gained”

Danny