Based on the texts, how would Oyelaran most likely respond to Pike's explanation of why some customers tolerate his bread?

Question

Text 1
At Mill Lane Bakery, dough ferments for twenty-four hours before it is baked. Owner Jonah Pike tells customers that the wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in his starter break down the flour's proteins and carbohydrates before those compounds ever reach the eater, and that this is why several regulars who avoid ordinary bread eat his loaves comfortably. Long fermentation, he says, undoes what industrial bread does to wheat.

Text 2
Food scientist Mira Oyelaran's fermentation trials do record real change: after twenty-four hours, much of the dough's fructans — short carbohydrate chains that many people digest poorly — have been consumed by the bacteria. Gluten proteins are partly broken down as well, though nowhere near enough to make the bread safe for anyone with celiac disease. Loaves sold as "sourdough" but fermented for two hours show neither effect.

Accepted Answer

B. By supporting it in part, noting that a twenty-four-hour ferment does reduce certain hard-to-digest carbohydrates while cautioning that the bread remains unsuitable for some eaters. Oyelaran's data confirm the fructan reduction that would explain easier digestion at twenty-four hours, but she limits the claim by noting the bread is still unsafe for people with celiac disease. B captures the partial endorsement plus the caution. A contradicts the text, which reports measurable change. C reverses the final sentence, which says two-hour loaves show neither effect. D overstates "partly broken down" into total removal of gluten, the very exaggeration Oyelaran warns against.

Answer

A. By rejecting it, since her trials detected no chemical change in dough during fermentation — Text 2 explicitly records change — fructans consumed and gluten partly broken down after twenty-four hours — so Oyelaran can't be rejecting Pike's account on the grounds of no chemical change; her limit is on how far the change goes, not whether it happens.

Answer

C. By arguing that the changes Pike describes occur in any loaf labeled sourdough, however briefly it is fermented — This reverses Text 2's last sentence: two-hour loaves labeled sourdough show *neither* effect, so the changes depend precisely on the long ferment Pike uses.

Answer

D. By agreeing fully and adding that long fermentation removes gluten from the dough entirely — Text 2 says gluten is only "partly broken down" and warns the bread is still unsafe for people with celiac disease — turning that into total removal of gluten is the exact overstatement Oyelaran cautions against.

Craft and Structure practice question

Answer: B. By supporting it in part, noting that a twenty-four-hour ferment does reduce certain hard-to-digest carbohydrates while cautioning that the bread remains unsuitable for some eaters

Why the other answers are wrong

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