Hot Bread Leavening Agents Part 3

SODA AND MOLASSES.–Although molasses, which is a product of sugar cane, is sweet, it contains an acid that is formed by the fermentation that continually occurs in it, an evidence of which is the tiny bubbles that may be seen in molasses, especially when it is kept in a warm place. Because of the presence of this acid, molasses may be used with soda to form a chemical leavening agent, and when they are combined in hot breads or cake, the chemical action of the two produces carbon dioxide. However, accurate results cannot always be obtained when these ingredients are used, for the degree of acidity in molasses is as uncertain as it is in sour milk. Molasses that is old or has been kept in a warm place will contain more acid than molasses that has been manufactured only a short time or that has been kept cool to retard fermentation.

The proportion of soda to molasses that can usually be relied on for hot breads and cakes is 1 teaspoonful of soda to 1 cupful of molasses, or just twice the quantity of soda that is generally used with sour milk. To produce the best results, the molasses should be mixed with the liquid ingredients and the soda sifted in with the dry ones. As molasses burns very quickly in a hot oven, all breads or cakes containing it as an ingredient should be baked in an oven of moderate temperature.

SODA AND CREAM OF TARTAR.–Some bread makers are inclined to use soda and cream of tartar for leavening purposes; but there is really no advantage in doing this when baking powder can be obtained, for some baking powders are a combination of these two ingredients and produce the same result. In fact, the bread maker cannot measure soda and cream of tartar so accurately as the chemist can combine them in the manufacture of baking powder. Nevertheless, if their use is preferred, they should be measured in the proportion of twice as much cream of tartar as soda. As in the case of soda alone, these leavening agents should be sifted with the dry ingredients. A small quantity of cream of tartar is used without soda in such mixtures as angel-food cake, in which egg white alone is used to make the mixture light. The addition of the cream of tartar has the effect of so solidifying the egg white that it holds up until the heat of the oven hardens it permanently.

BAKING POWDER.–Without doubt, baking powder is the most satisfactory of the chemical leavening agents. It comes in three varieties, but they are all similar in composition, for each contains an alkali in the form of soda and an acid of some kind, as well as a filler of starch, which serves to prevent the acid and the alkali from acting upon each other. When moisture is added to baking powder, chemical action sets in, but it is not very rapid, as is apparent when a cake or a muffin mixture is allowed to stand before baking. The bubbles of gas that form in such a mixture can easily be observed if the mixture is stirred after it has stood for a short time. When both moisture and heat are applied to baking powder, however, the chemical action that takes place is more rapid, and this accounts for its usefulness in baking hot breads and cake.

Recommended Reading

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