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These altered egg proteins essentially give the liquid foam a solid structure, allowing it to hold its shape.īy comparison, in recipes that use yeast as a leavening agent, the gluten proteins in flour serve a role similar to that of egg proteins in most chemically-leavened baked goods: the gluten proteins help trap air bubbles until the dough sets. The proteins in eggs become irreversibly denatured when exposed to heat (that is, the proteins unfold and cannot refold into their original shape). This means that the batter rises for a longer period of time, making lots of bubbles (and a fluffier cake, muffin, or whatever).Īt some point during the baking process, the liquid foam of rising batter becomes a solid foam, because the batter “sets.” This is one reason eggs are so common in baking recipes. In other words, sodium acid pyrophosphate and sodium aluminum sulfate won’t start reacting with the sodium bicarbonate until after you’ve put the dough or batter in the oven. Neither of these acids react with sodium bicarbonate until they are both: A) wet (i.e., stirred into the batter) and B) hot. But as soon as the baking powder is stirred into a wet dough or batter, the two ingredients begin to react, releasing bubbles of CO 2 and causing chemical leavening.īut to extend the chemical leavening process, baking powder also contains a second acid, either sodium acid pyrophosphate or sodium aluminum sulfate. Monocalcium phosphate doesn’t react with the sodium bicarbonate while it’s dry. But baking powder also contains two acids. One of these acids is called monocalcium phosphate. And that’s a problem.įor many baking recipes, you want an extended reaction, so that the rising doesn’t take place all at once.īaking powder addresses this problem because it is “double acting” - it has different ingredients that create CO 2 gas at different stages of the baking process.Īll baking powders contain sodium bicarbonate (just like baking soda).
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From baking soda to household bugs to breakthroughs in engineering and veterinary medicine, we’re a world-class research institution.īut when baking soda comes into contact with an acid, it pretty much reacts immediately.