Everyone who bakes has been there, reading a recipe that calls for either baking soda
or baking powder, then reaching for the wrong one.
Or — worse! — realizing you're out of the one that it calls for.
Does it really matter?
Absolutely.
Let's take a look at exactly what's inside these containers, starting with baking soda.
That's actually straight sodium bicarbonate, and here's a bit of a flashback to grade school
science for you.
Baking soda is a base, and that means it reacts when it comes in contact with an acid.
When you're baking, that can be in the form of a liquid — typically something like lemon,
buttermilk, or coffee — or a solid, like brown sugar.
Once the two are mixed, they'll form carbon dioxide bubbles and raise the pH of your dough.
What does that mean?
Basically, those bubbles make your baked goods rise, and increased pH weakens the gluten
to make your final product more tender.
Now, baking powder.
That's a little different, because that's actually baking soda plus some other ingredients
— usually, says Bob's Red Mill, cornstarch and cream of tartar.
It contains two acids, which can vary, and it's only when a liquid is introduced that
the first acid reacts with the base.
Then, once it's exposed to heat, the second reaction happens.
But wait, you're saying, If it contains both an acid and a base, wouldn't it automatically
react?
No, and Healthline says that's where the cornstarch comes in.
That acts to keep the reaction from happening until you want it to.
See, it's pretty simple.
If you've ever wondered why a recipe calls for one and not the other — or for both
— you're not alone.
Since baking soda requires an acid to activate it, the only time you're going to see it used
is when there's an acid in the recipe.
Makes sense, right?
If there's no acids in the recipe, you'll use baking powder, since it already contains
everything it needs to work.
There's a little more to it, too.
Because baking powder reacts in stages — including one that's activated by the presence of heat
— it's going to be used in recipes where the dough needs to either chill or rise.
Think of the cookie dough you put in the fridge for a bit before baking, or of bread that
needs a long time to rise.
So, why would you need both?
Baking soda isn't just activated by the presence of an acid, it also neutralizes it as part
of the process.
If your recipe contains an acid, it will also call for a certain amount of baking soda to
react with and essentially, in the proper proportions, they'll offset each other.
But sometimes, that's not enough to get the rise you're looking for.
In that case, the recipe will tell you to add a little baking powder to get the extra
kick you need.
Because things aren't complicated enough when you're just looking at baking powder and baking
soda, you'll also need to know that yes, there are different kinds of baking powder, too.
Which one you buy makes a big difference.
First, let's take fast-acting baking powder.
Here, the reaction is going to happen at room temperature, so as soon as you mix your ingredients,
the magic is going to start to happen.
You don't always want that, though, so that's where slow-acting baking powder comes in.
There's a delay on this one, and it's not going to start doing its thing until it hits
a certain temperature.
Then, there's double-acting baking powder, which means part is going to happen when you're
still at room temperature, and it'll continue while it's in the oven.
If your box of baking powder doesn't say which it is, it's probably double-acting.
The other two are mostly used by commercial and professional bakers, and if you picked
up your baking powder at the grocery store, you're probably safe in assuming it's the
double-acting stuff.
The taste of both baking soda and baking powder is unmistakable, and in spite of looking very
similar and playing the same role in a recipe, they do impact the flavor and color of the
final product in different ways.
How it works is another reason a recipe might call for both.
Let's use lemon cupcakes as our example.
Lemon is an acid, so the recipe is going to call for baking soda to offset some of the
acidity and to make those cupcakes rise.
But you also want some of that lemon flavor to stay, and for that to happen, the baking
soda can't use up all of your lemon juice.
Add baking powder to the recipe, and you're also adding more acid, which means you'll
have more of that lemon flavor left after the reactions and the rising happens.
But, say you're making lemon pancakes, and you want not just lemon flavor, but those
delicious browned edges, too.
If you have too much acid in your recipe, that browning isn't going to happen.
Baking soda takes away the acid and encourages the browning.
In other words, if you only use baking soda, your tangy lemon recipes would lose their
lemon flavor.
If you only used baking powder, you wouldn't get that browning reaction.
So using both?
That's what will get you to perfection.
So, you're getting ready to bake, and you're trying to decide if you wake the dog up now
to take her outside before you start, or if you let her sleep and just step away from
what you're doing mid-recipe.
Here's how you decide.
If the recipe calls for baking soda, you'd better take the dog out before you start.
That's because the reaction that causes your cake or bread to rise is going to start as
soon as you introduce the baking soda to the liquid, and that means you'll have to have
the oven preheated and get your dough or batter in as soon as you possibly can.
If you wait — and, say, step away to run the dog outside — all the carbon dioxide
bubbles that are going to make your recipe rise will be gone by the time you get back,
and what comes out of the oven will be very, very flat.
On the other hand, if the recipe calls for just baking powder, you'll have time to step
away and run the pup outside if she needs to go.
That's because while some of the reaction of double-acting baking powder does, indeed,
happen when you first mix your ingredients, the majority of the gas doesn't get released
until it's in the oven.
And that means your cake will still rise, and you won't have to wake the dog up before
you start.
"On your marks, get set, bake!"
Have you ever paid attention to how much baking soda or baking powder a recipe calls for?
If you haven't, you might not have realized that most recipes will only call for a relatively
small amount of baking soda.
And that's super important, because according to Bob's Red Mill, baking soda is about four
times stronger than baking powder.
But here's the thing: If you want more rise, you can't just add more baking soda.
That's because baking soda will only react in the presence of an acid, and good recipes
will include just enough baking soda to react with the right amount of acid.
There's a little bit more to this, too, and it's the reason you absolutely shouldn't increase
the amount of baking soda over the amount the recipe calls for.
If you add more baking soda, it'll run out of acid to interact with and it'll remain
inert.
And that means you'll just have some leftover baking soda in your cake or bread, and you'll
be able to taste it.
If you've ever baked something that's had a weird, bitter sort of taste — think of
what it would taste like if you licked a bar of soap that was filled with flakes of aluminum
foil — that's because you had too much baking soda.
And what's worse than a cake fail?
"It's OK.
It probably just meant that I love cake.
That I can’t resist it.
Heh heh.
It’s all good---”
And that's why many recipes follow this rule of thumb: For each cup of flour, you'll need
a teaspoon of baking powder and only a quarter-teaspoon of baking soda.
Baking really is a science, and in order to get your cakes, cookies, and croissants to
come out perfect every time, following the recipe to the teaspoon is a must.
Uh oh!
You've already started baking, but you forgot to do a cursory glance through your cabinets
to make sure you have everything you need and you're out of either baking powder or
baking soda.
First, the good news: If you have one, you can substitute for the other.
Let's say you're out of baking powder.
Since you now know that baking powder is essentially baking soda with the acid already added, you
know you can make your own.
It's easy: Just use 1 teaspoon of baking soda and add 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar.
Presto!
And yes, you still use the same exact amount of your homemade baking powder as you would
use of the commercial stuff.
If you're out of baking soda, it gets a little trickier.
There's baking soda in your baking powder, so you could use three times the baking powder
to replace the baking soda.
In other words, use 3 teaspoons to replace 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
But now, here's a bit of bad news: The baking powder will change the taste of what you're
making, because of the extra ingredients in it.
Depending on what you're making, it could ruin an entire recipe.
In some cases, you might want to put your baking on hold and run to the store.
You'll thank yourself later — about the time dessert rolls around.
Baking soda and baking powder are commonly confused, but isn't there one other ingredient
that does pretty much the same thing?
Yes, it's yeast.
So what's the difference there?
It's all in the reactions.
While baking soda and baking powder react with acids and liquids, respectively, yeast
reacts with sugars.
It's also an entirely different process that happens with yeast, and that's fermentation.
When yeast ferments, it does so very, very slowly, which is why making bread is such
a time-consuming process, and why you need to let the dough sit for a while before popping
it in the oven.
That slow process doesn't work for a lot of baking projects, which is why yeast isn't
interchangeable with baking soda and baking powder.
There's another way to look at the differences, too.
When it comes to baking soda and baking powder, Bob's Red Mill says the reaction that happens
is a chemical one.
When it comes to yeast, that's a biological reaction.
It's a difference that ends up causing the same basic result, but you have to admit it's
pretty cool and an excellent fun fact to bring up at parties over a few cookies or slices
of cake.
“People do cake…”
When you think of baking soda and baking powder, you probably think of baking.
It's right in the name, after all.
But there's plenty of things you can do with one of them, and this?
This is important, because it can absolutely help you go a little more natural with your
cleaning routine.
Baking powder is pretty much only used for baking.
That's it!
You can definitely get away with a small container kept in your kitchen, but baking soda has
so many other uses it's worth stocking up on and keeping boxes on hand.
Healthline says that baking soda had been shown to have some interesting effects when
taken as a supplement, and it's been found to help reduce fatigue, especially when you're
going through some hardcore exercising sessions, if you're weight training, or participating
in high-energy sports like kickboxing or martial arts.
It's also been shown to help remove plaque, reduce heartburn, slow the progression of
kidney disease, and even relieve the itchiness of bug bites when mixed with water and turned
into a paste.
You can use baking soda as a deodorant, a mouthwash, to relieve the pain of canker sores,
as an air, garbage can, shoe, and refrigerator freshener, stain remover and laundry whitener,
and even as a weed killer.
That all makes baking powder look positively boring by comparison, so if you're wondering
whether or not you should grab that giant box of baking soda, there's your answer.
Stock up!
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