Necessity for beer or bread (5)

I believe the answer is:

yeast

(Other definitions for yeast that I've seen before include "What makes bread rise" , "that baker needs" , "Fungus; food supplement" , "Baker's raising agent" , "fermenter" .)

I've seen this clue in The New York Times.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.