Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren fog O bomb here. If you're in the mood
Speaker 1: to make some kind of baked good, the recipe you
Speaker 1: grab will almost certainly call for baking powder or baking soda.
Speaker 1: That's because both ingredients are leavening agents used to make
Speaker 1: your favorite baked goods light, fluffy, and moist. But while
Speaker 1: baking powder and baking soda are similar, they're definitely not
Speaker 1: the same. Baking soda is made from one ingredient, sodium bicarbonate.
Speaker 1: Sodium bicarbonate is alkaline, sometimes called a base, and its
Speaker 1: job is to react with some kind of acid in batter,
Speaker 1: such as buttermilk, yogurt, brown sugar, or vinegar, and upon reacting,
Speaker 1: release carbon dioxide bubbles that help your baked goods rise
Speaker 1: and become light and fluffy. This reaction happens immediately when
Speaker 1: the baking soda and acid come in contact with each other.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, making powder is a combination of
Speaker 1: sodium bicarbonate plus two acids that are stable in a
Speaker 1: dry room temperature state, often those acids being mono calcium
Speaker 1: phosphate and sodium aluminum sulfate. These two additional ingredients work
Speaker 1: to extend the leaveting process and mean that you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily have to add any acids to your batter. When
Speaker 1: you stir dry baking powder into a wet batter or dough, First,
Speaker 1: the mono calcium phosphate hydrates and can react with the
Speaker 1: sodium bicarbonate to produce carbon dioxide bubbles. Then, when you
Speaker 1: put your unmaked goods in the oven, the combination of
Speaker 1: heat and moisture will allow the sodium aluminium sulfate to react,
Speaker 1: giving off a second burst of gas. This two stage
Speaker 1: activation process, which gives baking powder the tag double acting,
Speaker 1: means you can delay baking the batter or dough for
Speaker 1: up to twenty minutes without much affecting its leaveting power.
Speaker 1: Recipes using baking soda, on the other hand, require immediate
Speaker 1: baking for the best results, since baking soda alone reacts
Speaker 1: to an acid as soon as the two are mixed,
Speaker 1: the dough will only deflate from there. But if you've
Speaker 1: got only baking soda on hand and need baking powder
Speaker 1: no worries. You can substitute baking soda for baking powder
Speaker 1: with two precautions. First, you need enough acidity in the
Speaker 1: mixture to activate the baking soda. Uh say, one cup
Speaker 1: of butter milk or a teaspoon of lemon juice per
Speaker 1: half teaspoon of baking soda. Second, you have to calculate
Speaker 1: the proper amount of baking soda to use. Baking soda
Speaker 1: is four times stronger than baking powder, so a recipe
Speaker 1: calling for a teaspoon of baking powder translates to a
Speaker 1: quarter teaspoon of baking soda. If you happen to have
Speaker 1: cream of tartar at home, you can make your own
Speaker 1: baking powder by combining it with baking soda. A quarter
Speaker 1: teaspoon of baking soda and five eighths of a teaspoon
Speaker 1: of cream of tartar will be equal to one teaspoon
Speaker 1: of baking powder. A cream of tartar is another powdery
Speaker 1: acid potassium by tar trait. Baking powder was actually originally
Speaker 1: a combination of cream of tartar in baking soda. It
Speaker 1: first debuted in England in the late eighteen forties, but
Speaker 1: at the time of tartar was pricey, and being that
Speaker 1: it's a byproduct of the wine industry, Americans had to
Speaker 1: import it from Europe. So in eighteen fifty six, an
Speaker 1: American chemist created modern baking powder, which substitutes mono calcium
Speaker 1: phosphate for cream of tartar. Unfortunately, while it's relatively easy
Speaker 1: to substitute baking soda for baking powder, the opposite is
Speaker 1: not true. If a recipe calls for baking soda and
Speaker 1: all you have is baking powder, it's best not to proceed,
Speaker 1: as baking powder is a combination of at least a
Speaker 1: couple ingredients. Since baking soda is again stronger than baking powder,
Speaker 1: you'd need three or four times the amount of baking
Speaker 1: powder and a reduction in salt and other acidic ingredients
Speaker 1: in the batter to approximate a substitute, and it's likely
Speaker 1: that the texture and flavor of the finished product will
Speaker 1: not be what you were going for, even with your
Speaker 1: best efforts. Also, a caveat when using either baking soda
Speaker 1: or baking powder, measure carefully. Too much baking soda can
Speaker 1: cause your baked goods to fall, while too much baking
Speaker 1: powder can lend a bitter taste to your goodies, and
Speaker 1: too little of either of these leavening agents can result
Speaker 1: in dense, heavy goods without enough Rise. Today's episode was
Speaker 1: written by Melanie Red Zekie McManus and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other topics that
Speaker 1: will lift you up, visit our home planet, how stuff
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