Virginia Henley

History is my passion. So I write what I love to read. I find that if I combine history with a strong, sensual romance, it is like a one-two punch. The reader doesn't want the history without the romance, and of course the heavier the history, the more it has to be leavened with a sensual, all-consuming love story.

British Writer

Sherrilyn Kenyon

I think you need humour and a sense of fun, which is what I try to bring to my books to leaven the danger and action. The ones that really transcend the genre always have a great laugh in them, such as 'Fright Night,' 'Lost Boys,' 'American Werewolf in London' - just to name a few.

American Writer

Ty Burrell

Our house was a place where you were welcome to make an idiot out of yourself. Silliness was valued. My dad worked with foster kids in the foster care system, and I think silliness was a way for him to leaven things up.

American Actor

Alton Brown

A pie dough comes together exactly like a biscuit only there is very, very little liquid and no leavening involved. Other than that, the same rules apply. My best advice: handle the dough as little as possible.

American Entertainer

Ben Okri

I believe in leavening. You can't have words sticking out too much, like promontories. They disturb the density. You have to flatten them, or raise the surrounding terrain.

Nigerian Poet

Evan Dando

When there are no women on the tour it can get awful and ugly - constant horrible jokes and gross behaviour. It needs to be leavened with a feminine presence.

American Musician

Annalee Newitz

The Red' delivers intense action, leavened by a genuinely sympathetic portrait of soldiers caught up in battles they never chose.

American Journalist

Robert Browning

Thou art my single day, God lends to leaven What were all earth else, with a feel of heaven.

English Poet

George Will

If your job is to leaven ordinary lives with elevating spectacle, be elevating or be gone.

Journalist

William McIlvanney

Good lies need a leavening of truth to make them palatable.

Scottish Writer

Used mostly in cooking to describe ingredients that help dough rise.

Culinary Term

'Leaven' is usually used literally in the context of baking and not as a metaphor.

Literal Use

Leaven causes a visible change, making the dough expand and become fluffy.

Physical Change

When used figuratively, 'leaven' adds variety or interest to situations or conversations.

Metaphorical Flavor

As a verb, it's less common and might sound old-fashioned in casual conversation.

Not Widely Used

Verb form is often used to suggest making something less serious or heavy.

Introduce Lightheartedness

The verb form directly relates to the process of making dough rise in baking.

Baking Process

Mainly used in specific contexts like recipes or discussions about baking.

Specific Context

Focuses on the active role leaven plays in transforming dough properties.

Active Ingredient

 so like mud baking in the sun, your cookie gets dried out and it stiffens. Cracks spread across its surface. The steam that was bubbling inside evaporates, leaving behind airy pockets that make the cookie light and flaky. Helping this along is your leavening agent, sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.

The chemistry of cookies...

 these early farming populations fostered the development of mathematical knowledge, advanced metallurgy. They learned to cultivate olives, vines and date palms. They invented leavened bread, beer, and they developed textile