Tell me more about Baking Powder: Last month I was out and used baking soda making pancakes; not horrible, not great. I know they are different because they have different names, but I don’t know how they are different. Please explain.
Bakings Soda and Powder leaven breads and batters by creating carbon dioxide bubbles which expand when heated then get set in the muffin, pancake, banana bread giving rise, structure and texture to your baked goods.
Baking Soda is a little easier to explain. It is a single chemical – sodium bicarbonate. Because carbonates and the racier, bicarbonates are slightly alkali, they produce carbon dioxide when they come in contact with acidic liquid – In baking this is usually sour cream, yogurt, lemon juice or if you are doing science experiments you can make a mini-rocket with vinegar and baking soda.
Baking Powder is an amalgam of different chemicals - sodium bicarbonate is combined with acid salts to produce baking powder. Single acting baking powders are made with monocalcium phosphate. Double acting baking powders employ sodium aluminum sulfate, which reacts once as the powder comes into contact with liquid, a second time when heated. The ‘recipe’ for baking powder varies with each manufacturer – sodium aluminum pyrophosphate, dimagnesium phosphate or a name that only a chemist could love – dicalcium phosphate dihydrate. The different combinations allow the secondary reaction to happen at very specific temperatures controlling the release of carbon dioxide. Not so important with a batch of chocolate chip cookies or pancakes but for 1000 cupcakes or 500 muffins, custom mixed baking powders ensure consistent, if not, quality products.
One of the first commercial baking powders was a mixture of cream of tartar and baking soda. This combination had a problem – ambient moisture. It didn’t take a cup of buttermilk to set this combination off. High humidity is enough to get them to react with each other. Although, commercial baking powders are now far more sophisticated; cream of tartar and baking soda are generally listed as an emergency substitution – you know because if you bake a half dozen times a year and you are out of baking powder - of course you will have both soda and tartar on hand.
Premature reactionation is still a problem with baking powder, which is why you will find a ‘best used by’ date on every container of baking powder. The Saucykitchen couldn’t use a carton of baking powder in the 18 months powder lasts, so it is rarely purchased and used. Granted, my home baking runs more on the tart/pie/pudding side of things – I have little use for baking powder centric recipes for cookies, cakes and zucchini bread.
Plus most combinations of baking powders seem more concerned with shelf-life and bubble production than taste, I find most brands leave a strong chemical aftertaste. So, I avoid baking powder whenever possible - rather than use baking powder in pancakes, I whisk egg whites for leavening or make crepes. Instead of baking muffins - I go with yeasted cakes like blini or crumpets and when I see something like the Joy of Cooking calling for baking powder in spätzle, I shake my head and omit it.
Usual advice here; gather ingredients before you start cooking, know where to look up substitutions and technique that are realistic for you and the best way to use the can of baking powder up before it goes bad, cook more at home.
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