if yeast turns sugar into alcohol during the fermentation process, why isn’t there alcohol in baked goods?
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Yeast produce alcohol from sugar in the absence of oxygen. This is why it is important to keep the fermention vats sealed from the air. Any oxygen in the vat will make the yeast just produce carbon dioxide without alcohol. So it is first when all the oxygen already in the vat have been consumed by the yeast and no additional oxygen have been introduced that the yeast will start making alcohol.
But when you ferment dough to make baked goods you are not keeping it sealed and you are not letting it ferment long enough for the yeast to consume all the oxygen. So there will be a lot less alcohol produced from this but a lot more active yeast. However the tiny amounts of alcohol which may be produced when the dough is rising will likely get evaporated away or decomposed when you bake the dough anyway. Alcohol evaporates much faster then water. So you are left with no alcohol in the bread. This is also why food prepared with wine or beer is still non-alcoholic after being cooked.
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