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 earlier this year 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.