What to use instead of baking powder: tips

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Despite the fact that almost all the ingredients for making delicious dough can be purchased everywhere, often the hostess is faced with the situation that everything is ready for baking, but there was no baking powder at hand. Do not rush to the store - in our article we will tell you what can be used instead of baking powder for dough.

Why do I need baking powder?

Any pastry, whether it be biscuits, muffins or yeast pies, the tastier, the more fluffy and airy the dough turned out to be. Therefore, when kneading, various ingredients are used that make the dough looser, lighter and more convenient for baking. One of them is baking powder, which we will talk about.

This baking aid ensures uniform air saturation of the dough, gives it a pleasant porous structure and speeds up the baking process. It is noteworthy that the baking powder in the form in which we are used to using it appearedrelatively recently, and before, every housewife had her own secrets, and she knew exactly what to use instead of baking powder.

Factory baking powder consists of ammonium carbonate, citric acid, starch or flour base and acidity regulators. When a liquid is added, these substances react, a lot of carbon dioxide is released, bubbles appear, which give the necessary structure. This reaction is easy to reproduce at home.

Types of baking powder for dough

• Biological, organic - just with their help, fermentation reactions are triggered in the dough. These are yeasts known to all, as well as bacteria (usually lactic acid) used to make sourdough and sourdough.
• Chemical - this is sodium bicarbonate, aka soda. Very often the question arises whether it is possible to use soda instead of baking powder, we answer: it is possible, but you need to do it correctly, how exactly, read on.

There are also physical methods by which the effect of fluffy dough can be achieved, they consist in the fact that with certain features of the heat treatment of products, splendor increases under the action of steam.

Slaked soda as baking powder

The easiest way to make the dough light and airy, familiar to our grandmothers, is to use slaked, and in some cases ordinary soda.

Soda can be used in place of baking powder in baked goods such aslike biscuits, muffins, fluffy pancakes and yeast-free pancakes on kefir. Usually soda is not used in its pure form: when heated, it produces not only carbon dioxide, but also sodium carbonate. This substance has a specific unpleasant aftertaste, reminiscent of soap, to avoid its appearance, the soda must be extinguished.

This is done as follows: soda is mixed with citric acid. Approximately 1.5 teaspoons of dry citric acid is taken per tablespoon of soda. This mixture is added to the dry ingredients for the dough (before eggs and water are added to the flour) and mixed thoroughly.

Many housewives use vinegar instead of citric acid, but this method is considered not the best, since the reaction takes place in the air, carbon dioxide evaporates and does not enter the dough. Also, making a mistake in the proportions, you can spoil the dough with an unpleasant vinegar aftertaste.

You might think that using soda instead of baking powder for dough is the last century and factory additives are much more convenient to use, but it should be noted that they contain much more preservatives and a variety of components that are not always useful with frequent use. This is the advantage of replacement. Another plus is the low cost of soda compared to baking powder.

A few words about quick soda

Not in all cases it is required to extinguish the soda when adding it to the baking dough. For example, if the dough contains a large amount of acid-based products, then they will successfully enter intoreaction. Such products include kefir and other fermented milk products, sour fruits and berries. If they are contained in the dough, you can not be afraid to add quick soda.

You also need to know that it is best to use baking soda without quenching instead of baking powder in shortcrust pastry - this is a feature of the preparation of this particular product.

Using butter and margarine

One way to make the dough looser is to use a lot of oil or other fats in it. In order to increase the splendor of the dough with the help of fats, it is required to add 1-2 tablespoons more butter or margarine during kneading than indicated in the recipe.

Also, to achieve the best effect, fats are whipped with sugar and s alt until foamy, and after that they are added to the dough.

Eggs and yeast for easy dough

When making pastries from yeast-free batter (for example, pancakes and jellied pies), as well as biscuit muffins, egg whites are added for a pleasant spongy structure. To get the maximum effect, they must be carefully separated from the yolks, and then whipped to a dense foam with a whisk and added to the dough. After adding the egg white, stir the dough very gently.

Baking powder is not always added to yeast dough, since yeast itself has a very good effect of making the dough voluminous and light. They are mixed with sugar and warm water, left for about half an hour, and then the dough is kneaded,which is allowed to rise for another 1.5-2 hours.

Fun ways to make dough light and fluffy

I would also like to talk about rather unusual options for what can be used as baking powder for dough:

• Alcohol. A tablespoon of flavored liquor, cognac, and even plain vodka enhances the flavor and texture of the dough. You can also add beer, but it creates a specific flavor that is not suitable for all types of pastries. By the way, it is very good in charlottes and other products with apple filling.
• Soda water. If you find that there is nothing to use instead of baking powder, sparkling mineral water mixed with kefir may be suitable.
• Dried cranberry powder. Used instead of citric acid when quenching soda, it gives baked goods an interesting color and aroma.

Of course, replacing such an important ingredient as baking powder can have its drawbacks - it is not always possible to achieve the desired effect when baking, and if you make a mistake with the proportions, you can get an unpleasant aftertaste or smell (to a greater extent this applies to adding vinegar and soda). In this sense, it is best, of course, to use soda or analogues, since only this ingredient allows you to achieve the desired dough structure.

It is also important to remember that instead of baking powder or soda, any other substitute without loss of taste and texture can be used in cases where the dough does not contain honey or chocolate - when using them, the dough may lose a pleasant structurewithout proper application of baking powder.