Yeast is known to everyone who bakes, it makes your bread or pastry rise so that it becomes nice and airy. But what does Baking powder or Bicarbonate of Soda do, it's not the same thing or is it? In British and American recipes you will also find Cream of Tartar amongst the ingredients, is that also a rising agent?
We get these questions more often and today we are going to answer them for you, hope it is of use to you all.
Baking Powder
Baking Powder is a raising agent made up of cream of tartar (the acid) and bicarbonate of soda (the alkaline) with added cornflour, which keeps it dry. Gluten free products are also available, like you see above from Dove and also vegan like in the top middle picture.
Baking powder can be substituted in place of bicarbonate of soda, but a larger quantity would be required and probably will affect the taste. Don’t use only bicarbonate of soda when baking powder is called for. Your recipe may lack the amount of acid required to cause the bicarb alone to create enough carbon dioxide for successful rising of your.
You can make your own baking powder by mixing 2 parts Cream of Tartar with one part Bicarbonate of Soda.
Bicarbonate of Soda / Baking Soda (USA)
Bicarbonate of Soda or Baking Soda is sodium bicarbonate, a raising agent which is also an alkaline. An alkaline is the opposite of an acidic, it has a ‘washing powder’ sort of taste. If used in excess this soapy flavour comes through in baked cakes, slices and biscuits, so be sparingly using it.
To make bicarbonate of soda work, moisture and acid (sour) are needed. The acid comes from the Cream of Tartar in baking powder. If bicarbonate of soda is called for on its’ own in a recipe, other acidic ingredients are used. Such as buttermilk, yoghurt, chocolate or honey for example which will add the sour element.
Once a raising agent is combined with moisture and acid, a chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide. These bubbles deflate if the mixture is stirred vigorously or if there is a delay before the baking is put in the oven. So pop your batter or dough in the oven immediately when it is ready to bake. As soon as the oven's heat hits the carbon dioxide, the bubbles will grow larger, causing the pastry even more rising.
Cream of Tartar
Cream of Tartar is a powdered form of potassium hydrogen tartrate. It is made from grape seeds produced during the process of wine making. It is not a raising agent, it is an acid that works in combination with a rising agent to make your bakings rise.
We can also report that we prefer to use flour from the mills and we are lucky, because there are mill shops in Rotterdam and Schiedam. It's a nice idea that you help maintain the Dutch windmills through your purchases. The mini-monsters think it is great fun, shopping with them in the mill shop and then also getting a candy from the shop lady.
If the mill shops are not open, we can buy mill flour from Ekoplaza or Rechtstreex. Ekoplaza Organic Supermarkets can be found throughout the Netherlands and Rechtstreex (currently) only operates in Zuidholland, but already extends to The Hague, Dordrecht and Gouda.
Also we have the regular supermarkets of course if we are in need, it has not been noticed yet!
We have much more good things to tell you about Rechtstreex, but we'll save it until next time!