WEBVTT - What's the Difference Between Baking Soda and Baking Powder?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:07.120
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.120
<v Speaker 1>Lauren fog O bomb here. If you're in the mood

0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.799
<v Speaker 1>to make some kind of baked good, the recipe you

0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.400
<v Speaker 1>grab will almost certainly call for baking powder or baking soda.

0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.280
<v Speaker 1>That's because both ingredients are leavening agents used to make

0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.040
<v Speaker 1>your favorite baked goods light, fluffy, and moist. But while

0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.480
<v Speaker 1>baking powder and baking soda are similar, they're definitely not

0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:32.920
<v Speaker 1>the same. Baking soda is made from one ingredient, sodium bicarbonate.

0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.760
<v Speaker 1>Sodium bicarbonate is alkaline, sometimes called a base, and its

0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.720
<v Speaker 1>job is to react with some kind of acid in batter,

0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.919
<v Speaker 1>such as buttermilk, yogurt, brown sugar, or vinegar, and upon reacting,

0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.400
<v Speaker 1>release carbon dioxide bubbles that help your baked goods rise

0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.639
<v Speaker 1>and become light and fluffy. This reaction happens immediately when

0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.280
<v Speaker 1>the baking soda and acid come in contact with each other.

0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.840
<v Speaker 1>On the other hand, making powder is a combination of

0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.400
<v Speaker 1>sodium bicarbonate plus two acids that are stable in a

0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.600
<v Speaker 1>dry room temperature state, often those acids being mono calcium

0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:10.240
<v Speaker 1>phosphate and sodium aluminum sulfate. These two additional ingredients work

0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.200
<v Speaker 1>to extend the leaveting process and mean that you don't

0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.480
<v Speaker 1>necessarily have to add any acids to your batter. When

0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.399
<v Speaker 1>you stir dry baking powder into a wet batter or dough, First,

0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.840
<v Speaker 1>the mono calcium phosphate hydrates and can react with the

0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.920
<v Speaker 1>sodium bicarbonate to produce carbon dioxide bubbles. Then, when you

0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.720
<v Speaker 1>put your unmaked goods in the oven, the combination of

0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.800
<v Speaker 1>heat and moisture will allow the sodium aluminium sulfate to react,

0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:38.280
<v Speaker 1>giving off a second burst of gas. This two stage

0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.880
<v Speaker 1>activation process, which gives baking powder the tag double acting,

0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.319
<v Speaker 1>means you can delay baking the batter or dough for

0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.160
<v Speaker 1>up to twenty minutes without much affecting its leaveting power.

0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:51.120
<v Speaker 1>Recipes using baking soda, on the other hand, require immediate

0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.720
<v Speaker 1>baking for the best results, since baking soda alone reacts

0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.920
<v Speaker 1>to an acid as soon as the two are mixed,

0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:01.320
<v Speaker 1>the dough will only deflate from there. But if you've

0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.440
<v Speaker 1>got only baking soda on hand and need baking powder

0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:08.280
<v Speaker 1>no worries. You can substitute baking soda for baking powder

0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.720
<v Speaker 1>with two precautions. First, you need enough acidity in the

0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:15.200
<v Speaker 1>mixture to activate the baking soda. Uh say, one cup

0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.519
<v Speaker 1>of butter milk or a teaspoon of lemon juice per

0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:22.040
<v Speaker 1>half teaspoon of baking soda. Second, you have to calculate

0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.480
<v Speaker 1>the proper amount of baking soda to use. Baking soda

0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.920
<v Speaker 1>is four times stronger than baking powder, so a recipe

0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.639
<v Speaker 1>calling for a teaspoon of baking powder translates to a

0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.320
<v Speaker 1>quarter teaspoon of baking soda. If you happen to have

0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:37.320
<v Speaker 1>cream of tartar at home, you can make your own

0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.600
<v Speaker 1>baking powder by combining it with baking soda. A quarter

0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.280
<v Speaker 1>teaspoon of baking soda and five eighths of a teaspoon

0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.880
<v Speaker 1>of cream of tartar will be equal to one teaspoon

0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.200
<v Speaker 1>of baking powder. A cream of tartar is another powdery

0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.160
<v Speaker 1>acid potassium by tar trait. Baking powder was actually originally

0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.799
<v Speaker 1>a combination of cream of tartar in baking soda. It

0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:59.040
<v Speaker 1>first debuted in England in the late eighteen forties, but

0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.960
<v Speaker 1>at the time of tartar was pricey, and being that

0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:04.680
<v Speaker 1>it's a byproduct of the wine industry, Americans had to

0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.320
<v Speaker 1>import it from Europe. So in eighteen fifty six, an

0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.400
<v Speaker 1>American chemist created modern baking powder, which substitutes mono calcium

0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:17.600
<v Speaker 1>phosphate for cream of tartar. Unfortunately, while it's relatively easy

0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.080
<v Speaker 1>to substitute baking soda for baking powder, the opposite is

0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.440
<v Speaker 1>not true. If a recipe calls for baking soda and

0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.799
<v Speaker 1>all you have is baking powder, it's best not to proceed,

0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.480
<v Speaker 1>as baking powder is a combination of at least a

0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:35.240
<v Speaker 1>couple ingredients. Since baking soda is again stronger than baking powder,

0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:37.880
<v Speaker 1>you'd need three or four times the amount of baking

0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.000
<v Speaker 1>powder and a reduction in salt and other acidic ingredients

0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:44.520
<v Speaker 1>in the batter to approximate a substitute, and it's likely

0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.920
<v Speaker 1>that the texture and flavor of the finished product will

0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.000
<v Speaker 1>not be what you were going for, even with your

0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:53.880
<v Speaker 1>best efforts. Also, a caveat when using either baking soda

0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:58.400
<v Speaker 1>or baking powder, measure carefully. Too much baking soda can

0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.120
<v Speaker 1>cause your baked goods to fall, while too much baking

0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.160
<v Speaker 1>powder can lend a bitter taste to your goodies, and

0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.760
<v Speaker 1>too little of either of these leavening agents can result

0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:15.200
<v Speaker 1>in dense, heavy goods without enough Rise. Today's episode was

0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.240
<v Speaker 1>written by Melanie Red Zekie McManus and produced by Tyler Clang.

0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.080
<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.

0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:22.800
<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other topics that

0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.200
<v Speaker 1>will lift you up, visit our home planet, how stuff

0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.039
<v Speaker 1>Works dot com and for more podcasts. For my heart Radio,

0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.000
<v Speaker 1>visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:32.240
<v Speaker 1>listen to your favorite shows.