Researchers in Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia, have identified an unorthodox way of improving the quality of bread. They appear to have found very positive influence water-soluble fullerene has on the biological activity of baker’s yeast and on the end consumer characteristics of new bread.

Fullerene is one of carbon modifications alongside some of the best-known substances such as diamond and graphite. The simplest of fullerenes contains 60 carbon atoms, and its structure may be likened to a football.

Scientists at the Krasnoyarsk Research Center (part of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), the Siberian Federal University and the Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University have made a series of experiments and learned that water-soluble fullerene actively interacted with microorganisms which play a crucial role in bread baking: yeast and lactic acid bacteria.

Top-quality wheat bread was used as raw material for experiments. In samples that contained fullerene, a larger-than-usual foamy “cap” was formed by yeast, and much faster fermentation was observed, compared to fullerene-free samples.