BAKING

Baking Soda & Baking Powder

     Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents, which means they are added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to 'rise'. Baking powder contains baking soda, but the two substances are used under different conditions. Baking powder and baking soda begin to lose effectiveness after six months. Keep them in a cool pantry and, unless you want flat biscuits and cakes, replace them often. Write the date you open baking powder and baking soda on packages. An open box of baking soda absorbs odor, so don’t keep an open box for more than 4 months, nor use the contents for cooking because it will have absorbed all the odor around it.

     Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (e.g., yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes which call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat!

     Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it already includes the acidifying agent (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch). Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake recipes which include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven.

     When are they used? Some recipes call for baking soda, while others call for baking powder. Which ingredient is used depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. The ultimate goal is to produce a tasty product with a pleasing texture. Baking soda is basic and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk. You'll find baking soda in cookie recipes. Baking powder contains both an acid and a base and has an overall neutral effect in terms of taste. Recipes that call for baking powder often call for other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk. Baking powder is a common ingredient in cakes and biscuits.

     Substitution - You can substitute baking powder in place of baking soda (you'll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you can't use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking soda by itself lacks the acidity to make a cake rise. However, you can make your own baking powder if you have baking soda and cream of tartar. Simply mix two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda.

Bread, Thawing - Place frozen bread slices on a plate and microwave on high, uncovered, for 15-25 seconds. Thawing it at room temperature will make it dry and stale.

Butter - Butter can pick up off-flavors and turn rancid if kept in the refrigerator longer than a month. If you don't use a lot, store butter in the freezer for up to 4 months in a zipper-lock bag and thaw sticks as needed. It’s best to use unsalted butter in baking or cooking, so it does not add saltiness to the dish.      You can soften butter quickly with a hair dryer set on low. Put the butter in a bowl and set the dryer on it for a few seconds (but, then again, who keeps a hair dryer handy in the kitchen?).

Cakes - When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.Store left-over cake under a cake dome, along with a whole peeled apple - the moisture from the apple helps to keep the air under the dome humid, preventing the cake and frosting from drying out.

Chocolate - Never put chocolate in the refrigerator or freezer—if you do, a white film (called bloom) will develop on the exterior. Wrap opened bars of chocolate tightly in plastic and store in a cool pantry. Milk and white chocolates will keep for up to six months; semisweet, bittersweet, and unsweetened chocolate are fine for one year.

Flour, Storing - Humidity is the biggest enemy for flour, so don’t store flour in the paper bags used by manufacturers. Besides exposing flour to moisture, these bags are messy. When you get home, transfer flour to an airtight container. Make sure to use a container that’s wide enough to dip a measuring cup into.

Flour, whole wheat - The natural oils in whole-wheat flour go rancid after just a few months. If you go through whole-grain flours slowly, slip packages into large zipper-lock bags and store them in the freezer.

Oats, for baking - Best to use traditional rolled oats when baking oatmeal cookies or oatmeal scones; steel-cut oats and quick oats yield undesirable results.

Sugar, Brown - Brown sugar becomes rock-hard after a few months. An airtight container slows down moisture loss, but once brown sugar gets hard, place it in a bowl, add a slice of sandwich bread, cover the bowl, and microwave for 10 to 20 seconds.

Sugar, Granulated - Granulated sugar will keep indefinitely if stored in an airtight container, like flour. Other sweeteners require gentler handling. If you have lumpy, old sugar, sift before using for baking.

Yeast - Yeast will lose its punch over time. Store yeast in the refrigerator or freezer and follow printed expiration dates.

[More to follow.]