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Re: baking soda/powder in yeast bread

Pan <pan_mila@yahoo.com>
Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:42:27 -0800 (PST)
v109.n003.12
Steve wrote:
Has anyone added baking soda or powder to a yeast bread to give it 
more of a rise?

I never tried this but you need to keep in mind that Baking Soda 
(sodium bicarbonate, bicarbonate of soda) and Baking Powder (a 
mixture of different chemicals) are two very different ingredients.

You can add a whole box of Baking Soda and it won't increase the rise 
one bit unless there is an acid in the recipe.  Baking soda is a weak 
base (alkali).  Strong bases are ammonia and lye (sodium 
hydroxide).  In baking, Baking Soda reacts with acids (like lemon 
juice, vinegar, or the acids in real buttermilk or in sourdough 
recipes) and forms gas bubbles of carbon dioxide which may or may not 
help the rise depending on how much acid is in the dough.  In 
non-sourdough bread dough there is very, very little acid produced by 
yeast.  In Sourdough bread baking you want the acids because they are 
what give the bread its' unique flavor.  If you neutralize these 
acids you won't have that wonderful flavor.  When your kids make 
those volcanoes for school projects they use Baking Soda and vinegar 
to make the lava.

When Baking Soda is heated in its dry form to about 158 F it starts 
to decompose and release carbon dioxide gas (that is why it is used 
in some fire extinguishers).  This reaction is very slow until the 
temperature reaches about 250 F.  However, this does not occur in 
baking because once Baking Soda is added to water it dissociates into 
two ions that do not recombine until all the water is removed.  So in 
baking bread, any carbon dioxide gas created by the decomposition 
reaction would not occur until after the bread structure has already 
set up - thus no additional rise.

Baking Powder contains Baking Soda, Starch, and one or more acidic 
compounds like Cream of Tarter.  The ingredient should be listed on 
your container.  My container lists the following: Cornstarch, 
Bicarbonate of Soda, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Mono Calcium Phosphate.

In baking, double-acting Baking Powder starts generating carbon 
dioxide at temperatures between 110 and 145 F.  So this might help 
your bread dough rise.

To actually see these effects there is a simple experiment you can 
do.  Take three clear drinking glasses of the same size.  Put exactly 
4 oz of water in each (room temp water).  Add 1/4 tsp of Baking Soda 
to one, 1/4 tsp Baking Powder to the second, and nothing to the third 
(your control).  Mix the Baking Soda glass until dissolved (clear, no 
residue on the bottom.  Mix the Baking Powder glass the same amount 
of time - it will be milky white as the starch will not completely dissolve.

Now put all three glasses in your microwave and heat at full power 
for 3-4 minutes.  BUT watch the reactions occur through the 
window.  The Baking Powder will start to react fairly quickly and 
will foam up.  The other two will not begin to boil until the water 
reaches 212 F.  You can remove the Baking Powder glass after it 
begins to foam up so it does not bubble over and make a mess.

Now move all three glasses to the counter top and add 1/4 tsp of 
vinegar to each to observe the reaction to acids.

Tom