(no subject)

[pensnest]

Is "baking soda":

- bicarbonate of soda

or

- baking powder?

Does anyone know? Because I have both in my cupboard, the (American) recipe calls for "baking soda" and I'm not sure which to use, or whether to put in half of each.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Baking soda is bicarbonate of soda. Baking powder is baking soda PLUS a powdered acid (PLUS stabilizers, usually)

If the recipe calls for baking soda it's probably using that baking soda to react with an acid in the recipe, so don't use baking powder, which would introduce more acid.

[pensnest]

Perfect answer - thank you! I think I'd better print it out and attach it to my pots, along with something that says 'Plain flour = All purpose except has way less gluten'. Which I recently discovered. Doesn't that make it difficult for Americans to make pastry? I'd never before realised that flour was not the same thing....

[minoanmiss]

Oh yeah, wheat has a lot of different varieties with different protein levels, and if an AmericAN ants to make good pastry it behooves us to learn what to look for. These days in my big-East-Coast-city markets I can get: cake flour (very low protein, finely milled); pastry flour (similar, but not bleached); all purpose flour; bread flour (high protein); Wondra brand flour (designed for use in thickening sauces, not baking). It also varies by region. If I went shopping in the US South the All Purpose Flour sold there is lower in protein than that sold up here. It's complicated.

Make a running list of Kitchen Americanisms in your computer. :)

[pensnest]

Crikey! I don't think we differentiate by protein levels here, except for Strong flour, used to make bread. I know my grandma always used the same brand for making pastry, and her apple pies were legendary.

I think you're right about the running list of Kitchen Americanisms!

[conuly]

I don't think we differentiate by protein levels here, except for Strong flour, used to make bread.

Professional bakers probably do, because their needs don't vary by country. Different things will always require different amounts of gluten (the protein in flour) if you want professional results instead of home baking results. Your average home baker just does what your average American home baker does - assumes that the stuff that everybody uses is suited for every purpose and goes from there.

[minoanmiss]

I am talking about home baking nerds, true, not the sensible kind of people who bake a cake once a year (tthere are mixes for that). But then I am a once and hopefully future baking nerd. :)

ETD unnecessary bit

[minoanmiss]

It often happens that different brands have different protein content. Your grandma probably found the one that worked perfectly for her baking.

When I was a kid we only had cake flou and all purpose flour in markets. Health food stores sold whole wheat and bread flours.

anyway. tries to think of other weird Americanisms

[conuly]

If we want to make pastry and for whatever reason don't want to use all-purpose, we use pastry flour.

But I think you mean "doesn't that make it difficult to make bread" because gluten is the stuff that makes bread bread-y. (And for that, we use bread flour, or we use all purpose plus added gluten, or we find a recipe that's intended for use with all purpose flour, depending on how picky we are about our breads.)