Comments on: Leavening in recipes: baking soda vs baking powder

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 04:11:05 +0000

This is vital information… I didn’t know this and couldn’t figure out why (structurally) my cakes all fell apart. Well this is definitely why! I’m totally listening to your advice and following your instructions. Thanks so much.
-Jenny
Kitchen Scales

By: Jazzle

Jazzle — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:35:26 +0000

OMG!!! 1/4 tbsp for 1 cup of flour!!!

I have read recipes with way more than that… no wonder my cupcakes turned out bitter

By: Bowl of Plenty

Bowl of Plenty — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:33:44 +0000

maryr, that is incorrect. All baking powders are combinations of alkaline and acidic components. The alkaline component is usually baking soda. The acidic component can be either a fast- or slow-acting acid. Double-acting powders contain both types of acids, hence the two actions. Cream of tartar is a fast-acting acid. I wrote a (long) post about baking powder in my blog recently; you can see it here:

http://bowlofplenty.blogspot.com/2009/02/baking-powder_16.html

By: maryr

maryr — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:18:03 +0000

PS: I meant to add that Best Recipes is a great cookbook for the science/basics behind components in recipes.

By: maryr

maryr — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:16:01 +0000

IIRC, baking powder contains baking soda and cream of tartar. That’s why most baking powder is usually labeled “double rising” or the like. The baking powder reacts quickly and the cream of tartar is slower and longer lasting. You’ll find a few recipes (snickerdoodles come to mind) call for cream of tartar (I guess the ratio in baking powder is wrong for these? Not entirely sure why… they are fairly flat cookies).

By: Bowl of Plenty

Bowl of Plenty — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:29:20 +0000

When you combine acetic acid (vinegar) and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), eventually water and carbon dioxide are released (the correct scientific term is “evolved”). Here’s the step-by-step chemical formula if you’re interested:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_reaction_when_sodium_bicarbonate_and_acetic_acid_are_mixed

I’m not entirely clear on this, but I think what Shirley Corriher is saying is that the CO2 is already there, but just bound up in baking soda and thus not in a usable (that is, gaseous) form until a chemical reaction takes place. It’s not like we’re smashing carbon and oxygen atoms together to form CO2. To bolster this idea, baking soda by itself will decompose and release water and carbon dioxide at high (over 250F) temperatures (this last sentence is based on “The Science of Bakery Products,” pp. 70-71).

There’s also an issue of surface tension that I won’t go into except to say that if bubbles already exist in the dough or batter, then it’s much easier for the gas released by the leavening agent to latch on to them and make them bigger.

Creaming isn’t the only way to form bubbles. Any mixing action (that I can think of, anyway) will incorporate air into the batter or dough, but different mixing methods yield different bubble sizes.

Sifting flour does add air into the mixture, but my understanding for why you don’t want to overmix pancake batter is because of the gluten in the flour. The more you work the flour, the more the gluten will develop — you’re kneading bread, essentially — and you’ll end up with a tough and chewy pancake instead of a light and fluffy one.

By: Adelphos24

Adelphos24 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:22:14 +0000

I wrote a post about leaveners not that long ago.

http://www.improveyourbaking.com/2009/01/09/leaveners-a-bakers-secret-weapon/

It’s good to see that baking fundamentals are still being written about. (We all have to learn from somewhere.)

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:59:17 +0000

“So what about pancake batter? It doesn’t have a creaming step.”

That would be, I think, why it’s so important not to over-mix pancake batter. In this case, I’d wager that the air in the recipe is in the flour. If the ingredients are just barely combined, the flour would retain more of its air, whereas over-mixing would beat out all the air and result in runny pancakes.

I think this calls for an experiment: pancakes with sifted flour versus the same recipe with unsifted flour.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:46:48 +0000

I just made a batch of peanut butter choc chip cookies a couple days ago and had the creaming done when I realized I was out of baking soda- the recipe called for 1/2 tsp. I though about just leaving it out entirely, since i couldn’t think of any ingredient that is acidic- maybe the egg a tad?-and the PB definitely makes the cookies dense anyway- but I threw in about a tsp of baking powder (which contains baking soda) and the cookies were awesome.What gives?

Baking powder contains baking soda- as you said, and it also contains the proper amount of acid to activate the baking soda completely. Baking powder doesn’t rely on the ingredients of your recipe to work, vs baking soda.

–McAuliflower

By: Jeromy French

Jeromy French — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:27:03 +0000

Yeah, I listened to the same podcast. Another recent Splendid Table talks about cookies. Now that I’m back in Indiana from a trip to New Orleans, I plan on ordering her newest book.