leavens
Makes bread rise
Leavens is the verb form of leaven—to add a rising agent like yeast or baking powder to dough, causing it to expand and become light.
Figuratively, something leavens a situation by adding a quality that lightens or enlivens it: Her humor leavens even the most tedious meetings.
The noun leaven is the agent itself.
yeast
Fermenting fungus
rise · fermentation · bread · baking · starter · bubbles · carbon dioxide · aeration · expansion · gluten
lighten
Make less heavy
wit · relief · levity · spirits · mood · airy · buoyancy · refreshment · animation · vivacity
physical rising/expansion
leavensflattens
Makes level or even
deflates · compresses · collapses · weighs down · densifies
- leavening agentSubstance causing dough expansion
- leavened breadLoaf expanded by fermentation
leaven, leavening, leavened, unleavened, leavener, leaveners