If there is a “baking season”, it has to be now. At this time of year, many of you probably dust off the cookbooks and family recipes and start baking up a storm. Before you do that; be sure to check the freshness of your ingredients; especially the leaveners. If they have been sitting in your pantry for a while, you may be in for an unwelcome surprise when your culinary triumph isn’t so triumphant!
Chemical Chemical leaveners, meaning baking powder or baking soda, are the primary leaveners used in home baking. We won’t go into detail here on how and why they work, but suffice it to say, it’s critically important that you’re using the right product to get the results you want.
Baking powder contains both baking soda and a powdered acid. It also contains cornstarch. Baking powders can be fast-acting, slow-acting or double-acting depending on the acids they contain. This is important to know because, if you use a baking powder that reacts at the wrong time, you will get an inferior product. Check the label on your baking powder. In most cases, it is safest to use a double-acting baking powder. This means your product will benefit from the action of the release of carbon dioxide while mixing and again, while it’s baking. Two ingredients to look for in your baking powder are: Sodium Aluminum Sulfate and/or Dicalcium Phosphate-Dihydrate. Both of these chemicals release 100% of their carbon dioxide during baking.
The other chemical leavener, baking soda, when used alone has an almost soapy taste. However, it works really well when used with mild acids such as chocolate, sour cream, citrus juices, buttermilk and brown sugar. These acids cause carbon dioxide to work much faster and the soapy/salty taste vanishes.
One final point; be sure to measure these ingredients carefully when you are using them. Only a small amount, 1 gram in fact, of baking soda controls a whole cup of flour!
Happy Baking!
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