Baking for Dummies #8: Baking Soda vs Baking Powder

 Baking Soda vs Baking Powder

Good morning everyone! Welcome back to Baking for Dummies, post number six! Today, we are going to discuss a topic that is a little less simple than what we have been talking about, but I believe it is very important for beginning bakers to know about. Everyone knows that cakes, cupcakes, and cookies need certain ingredients to rise, but is there a difference in those ingredients? Let’s go into a little more depth on baking soda and baking powder, and what some of these differences are.

 

Baking soda and baking powder are ingredients called “leavening agents”, and their purpose is to cause the batter of whatever you are baking to rise in the oven as they bake. They are crucial to creating a successful baked good. While it may not affect the taste, if left out it can cause your batter to not rise and become very dense in the oven. No one wants to eat a dense, sad looking cake! Be sure to keep both of these ingredients in your pantry. But what’s the difference? Many people wonder if you can substitute one from the other, but here are just a few differences between baking soda and baking powder that you may want to reconsider substituting one for the other.

• Baking soda must be paired with another acid (such as vinegar), to create the rise in baked goods you want to see. Baking powder already has an acid in it, so you do not need to add an additional acid if using baking powder.
• When using baking powder, it is more potent than baking soda, so depending on which you are using also determines how much you need to create the same leavening effect. For example, you would need much more baking soda in a recipe than baking powder.
• Since both of these ingredients must react with an acid, baking soda reacts with acids much quicker than baking powder due to the fact that baking soda requires a separate acid for it to react.

 

There are many more differences between baking soda and baking powder, but these are the most basic, must know points to understand your recipe and why it is using which leavening agent. Be careful when reading your recipe and make special note on how much you need to make your baked good. That is all I have for today, so happy baking!