Talk:Baking powder

Archive

I moved material from 2010-2013 into the existing archive. There wasn't enough material, IMHO, to justify creating a second archive. Lou Sander (talk) 13:28, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Commercial baking powder

The article says that commercial baking powder is different from the domestic version, and it spells out the difference, but it doesn't explain why the difference exists. Neither does it provide a reference. Maybe someone can find a reference and tell us why there's a difference. Lou Sander (talk) 13:36, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Monocalcium phosphate reaction

The article currently claims, that baking soda and monocalcium phosphate react according to:

14 NaHCO₃ + 5 Ca(H₂PO₄)₂ + 18 H₂O → 14 CO₂ + Ca₅(PO₄)₃OH + 7 Na₂HPO₄ + 18 H₂O

It also says, "The water in the above reaction acts only to solubilize the material so it can react. No net water is produced." But I can't get this to work out. On the left-hand side I count

• 14 C atoms
• 5 Ca atoms
• 34 + 2×18 H atoms
• 14 Na atoms
• 82 + 18 O atoms
• 10 P atoms

On the right-hand side I count

• 14 C atoms
• 5 Ca atoms
• 8 + 2×18 H atoms
• 14 Na atoms
• 69 + 18 O atoms
• 10 P atoms

Some of the atoms, specifically 26 H and 13 O atoms, are missing on the right-hand side. This suggests that the reaction generates 13 H₂O molecules, i.e., your batter gets wetter. Does anyone know what's actually happening? Ozob (talk) 00:34, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Great catch! Here is my math:

14 NaHCO₃ = 42 O, 14 H

5 Ca(H₂PO₄)₂ = 40 O, 20 H

O: 42 + 40 = 82

H: 34 H

14 CO₂ = 28 O

Ca₅(PO₄)₃OH = 13 O, 1 H

7 Na₂HPO₄ = 28 O, 17 H

O: 28 + 13 + 28 = 6669

H: 1 + 17 = 28

Δ O = 1613

Δ H = 3224

--Smokefoot (talk) 03:41, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

But 7Na₂HPO₄ has 7×1 = 7 H and 28 + 13 + 28 = 69. Ozob (talk) 11:47, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Hmm, recalculating, looks like we're closing in water being released but we're off by 1 H. --Smokefoot (talk) 13:26, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Now 34 H − 8 H = 26 H, not 24 H. So we can get exactly 13 H₂O. Ozob (talk) 22:12, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

History of Baking Powder

Should it be noted here that the Romans used chalk in their flour likely to achieve the effect of baking powder? See Pliny Natural History Book XVIII C. 29.

Replace the word "Buffer"

In §Original preparations, the word "buffer" is used for the starch or other agent. That term has a specific meaning in acid–base chemistry (buffer (chemistry)), and even though this article is all about methods of preparing acids and bases to react in various ways, that's not the meaning of the word here. What would be a better word that doesn't have an incorrect dual meaning? DMacks (talk) 23:37, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Source says "buffering material", we could go with that? Or "buffering component"? (I can't think of any single-word replacement) Schazjmd (talk) 23:49, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

nutrition/health Sodium overload

The high amount of sodium (sliced bread) needs a mention 1 lb flour (4 cups) takes 4 teaspoon baking powder (2370mg sodium). Cake takes double. 2600:1700:CDA0:1060:6844:16A4:5F90:FBA4 (talk) 02:56, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Also worth a mention, the sodium free baking powders are 32 times more expensive — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:CDA0:1060:6844:16A4:5F90:FBA4 (talk) 04:38, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Pearlash and Native Americans

@SQMeaner:, you first added the Native American claim on 1 May 2020, poorly sourced to a cooking blog. You later cited Museum of the American Indian, page 303, which doesn't support the text. The book says their bread was leavened with "lime-yeast" and baked by being buried in hot ashes, so it does not support the text you added.

I have to agree with the IP editors who have removed the claim several times. A better source is needed, one that specifically supports the use of pearlash by Native Americans. Schazjmd (talk) 21:40, 27 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm adding an upfront warning here that I'm striking sections of the following discussion that relate to sodium carbonate rather than potassium carbonate to more clearly identify the parts of the discussion which specifically relate to pearlash/potassium carbonate. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 20:28, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

What about the other sources I used? The one I added on the 23rd explicitly mentions ashes being used as a leavener. It's irrelevant now though, as the source I added today is probably more than enough to justify my edits.SQMeaner (talk) 21:19, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm not a subscriber to Petits Propos Culinaires, could you quote here the portion of the article that supports that pearlash was used in Ancient China and by Native Americans? Thanks. Schazjmd (talk) 23:31, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

From page 3 (BTW, you don't need to be a subscriber, I got the article via paying £10 via Paypal):

"In India, sodium carbonate, similarly derived from natural deposits or plant ashes and known as khar, had culinary uses. Charmaine O’Brien, in her guide to the food of India, describes a stew (in this case, the whole dish is named khar) flavoured with ‘indigenous soda’ produced by charring the stems of banana plants and then processing the ashes in water. This seasoning adds astringency: ‘By including this taste in daily meals, Assamese cooking covers all the tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent.’ Khar is used today in commercial papad production, to provide light leavening – those puffy bubbles in the surface of the papad. Another leavener sometimes used in modern papad is calcium oxide. Known as chunam, it is manufactured by burning limestone or, in some coastal areas, burning seashells. Calcium oxide (commonly called slaked lime), like sodium carbonate, breaks down when heated and produces carbon dioxide gas. Chunam’s main use has been as a construction material, but it is also added as an alkaline neutralizer to the highly acidic betel leaf when chewed." Striking as sodium carbonate rather than pearlash/potassium carbonate. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 20:28, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Furthermore, on page 4 it's stated that 'The first written use of the word ‘pearlash’ was in 1703, in a British act of parliament to tax the product.' Pearlash is basically just impure sodium carbonate with the sodium carbonate itself being solely responsible for the leavening effect and which has been known about for centuries so it really shouldn't come as a surprise that it was first used as a leavening product much earlier than 18th-century North America. There's also references to its use in European cuisine from the same source on page 5 which also predates its use in colonial North America although the earliest use the author could find is still Ancient China.SQMeaner (talk) 23:54, 28 November 2024 (UTC) striking this since the active ingredient in pearlash is potassium carbonate not sodium carbonate as stated here. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 20:28, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Could you quote the parts that specifically address pearlash and Ancient China and Native Americans? Schazjmd (talk) 23:57, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

My apologies, I got mixed up with India and Native Americans. Here's the quote for Native Americans, from page 3 as well:

"When European colonists arrived in the Americas, they observed the process which we today call nixtamalization: processing maize with alkaline plant ash to help soften and remove the skins from the kernels in order to make tortilla dough. Additionally, the salt content from sodium carbonate improved the flavour, and there is evidence that cooks prized the leavening effect on their tortillas. North American people would also use naturally occurring sodium carbonate deposits in the American West for this process. (It wasn’t until 1938 that industrial miners ‘discovered’ the large natural deposits in Wyoming.)"SQMeaner (talk) 00:01, 29 November 2024 (UTC) Striking as sodium carbonate rather than pearlash/potassium carbonate. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 20:28, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

And for Ancient China:

"The earliest record of chemical leavening is from 1330 ce, in a Chinese text, the Yin Shang Chêng Yao (‘Principles of Correct Diet’, by the court dietitian Hu Ssu-Hui). H.T. Huang, in his contribution on food history to Needham’s encyclopaedic work on Chinese science and technology, translates a recipe for Yuandynasty pasta, forerunner to today’s noodles and steamed buns, which includes the use of a chemical leavener, sodium carbonate, called chien, which was derived either from mineral deposits or by collecting the ashes from burning sodium-rich plants: Method for chêng ping [which Huang calls steamed pasta]: Take chiao tzu (little leaven [yeast starter from a previous dough]), salt and chien, mix with warm water and blend with flour to make a dough. On the second day add more flour and knead to make a larger dough. Each catty of dough makes two large loaves which are then steamed in a steamer. Huang also cites the I Ya I I (‘Remnant Notions of I Ya’, by Han Yi, 1365 ce) which ‘describes the making of raised dough using hsiao chiao (lesser leaven). Hsiao chiao is simply chien…' "SQMeaner (talk) 00:04, 29 November 2024 (UTC) Striking as sodium carbonate rather than pearlash/potassium carbonate. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 20:28, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Neither of those mention pearlash or potassium carbonate (the active ingredient in pearlash). Perhaps your information and ref are better suited for the Leavening agent article. Schazjmd (talk) 00:09, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Oh I see what you mean. I just realised I got potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate mixed up, apologies for the confusion. That being said, there's more from the article saying, on page 5-6:

"Some clues as to the earliest use of potash as a leavener in European baking are provided by Joop Witteveen, who makes a link between the medieval trade in both rye and potash from the Baltic countries to the Netherlands: ‘A mixture of honey and water was cooked and then mixed with rye flour and spices. A complication was that sour dough or yeast are not active in such a mixture and the cakes did not rise. But in Deventer, an important Hansa trading centre in the east of the Netherlands, it was discovered during the fourteenth century that such a cake dough would rise when potash and some buttermilk were added.’ This is because a chemical reaction occurs when potassium carbonate meets water and heat is added: potassium and carbonate ions are formed and the carbonates become carbonic acid, which bubbles out as carbon dioxide. However, after the carbon dioxide bubbles are produced, the potassium recombines with the water’s hydroxide ions to produce potassium hydroxide, which gives the bread or cake a bitter or soapy taste.

Witteveen states that it is unclear whether the use of potash as a raising agent originated in the Baltic region or in the Netherlands, and adds that cakes made of rye and sweetened with honey were common throughout the northern half of Europe. Joyce Toomre, in her translator’s notes to the classic Russian cook book A Gift to Young Housewives, suggests that potash was likely to have been used to leaven honey-sweetened Russian gingerbreads as early as medieval times, but concedes that there is no documentary evidence to predate Witteveen’s first evidence from Dutch cookery writing from 1752.23 That reference was from Gerrit van den Brenk’s, A Dialogue Between a Lady and a Pastrycook/Confiturier. Witteveen points out that in the ‘Complete Instruction’ chapter, van den Brenk did not give new recipes, but recorded recipes for cakes which were already in common use, and that the absence of recorded recipes incorporating potash is probably because professional bakers, the main users of potash, wanted to keep their recipes secret."

My understanding is potash basically is pearlash or potassium carbonate.SQMeaner (talk) 00:19, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Pearlash is a form of potash that has been purified. It's interesting that the Potash article has no mention of its use as a leavening. Anyway, the source is not supporting the content that you added. Schazjmd (talk) 00:46, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

I agree, the content I added originally was incorrect although I still feel the use of other chemical leaveners besides pearlash deserves a mention as they are arguably just as much precursors to baking powder as pearlash is and the fact potassium carbonate which is, as you said, the active ingredient in pearlash, was used as a leavener by European bakers in the fourteenth century should be added too.SQMeaner (talk) 00:52, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Thanks, @SQMeaner:, for this discussion, I appreciate how collegial and cooperative it was! I'm pinging the editor (@Mary Mark Ockerbloom:) who has written most of the history section so the two of you can discuss if/how/where to incorporate content about "the use of other chemical leaveners". Schazjmd (talk) 15:20, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

Thanks, @SQMeaner and Schazjmd: for your work on clarifying the issues involved here. As noted above, I struck various sections of the discussion to more easily see which comments related to pearlash and which did not. I've made a couple of modifications to the early history of pearlash to reflect the work of Joop Witteveen. Sadly I couldn't access the original article you quoted but I was able to cross check some of it with other sourcing. Schazjmd SQMeaner (correcting the attribution) writes : "I still feel the use of other chemical leaveners besides pearlash deserves a mention as they are arguably just as much precursors to baking powder as pearlash is". This is true from a historical viewpoint (they were used earlier) but not from a chemical viewpoint. Given that the baking powder article is very long already, I agree with SQMeaner Schazjmd (correcting the attribution) that Leavening agent would be a better target for expansion in which to discuss the broader history of leaveners. That article is currently fairly short and would benefit from expansion. Best wishes, Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 22:31, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for stepping in, @Mary Mark Ockerbloom, I appreciate your perspective on the discussion. (Btw, you switched attribution in the latter part of your comment, but no harm done.) Schazjmd (talk) 22:43, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

I would like to echo User:Schazjmd’s thanks and confirm my satisfaction with the changes made by User:Mary Mark Ockerbloom, for whatever that’s worth.SQMeaner (talk) 16:18, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

User:Schazjmd and SQMeaner: My thanks to you both and my apologies for switching your user names! I've corrected the attributions. :-) Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 16:14, 9 December 2024 (UTC)