Vegan Cooking Tips
Getting A Lift
Baking Soda vs. Powder
By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD
Both baking powder and baking soda help baked products rise. The two products may look very similar, but they are very different in how they interact with ingredients.
When making dense and moist baked goods like banana or zucchini bread, carrot cake, muffins, cornbread, brownies, pound cake, or chewy cookies, consider using baking soda. When creating light, airy treats like pancakes, layer cakes, and biscuits, consider baking powder. Some recipes use both baking soda and baking powder, to fine tune the resulting height and texture for a more specific combination.
Baking soda is also called "sodium bicarbonate." Baking soda is an alkaline (opposite of acid) product, such as vinegar (acid) versus Alka Seltzer (alkaline). If you are interested in understanding the science of alkaline and acid, you'll want to do a search for "pH" when you have the time.
When baking soda is combined with an acid, it creates carbon dioxide gas (think: baking soda and vinegar volcanoes!). The bubbles and gas are what helps a baked product to rise. Baking soda reacts with acids in a recipe (such as lemon, lime, or orange juice; vinegar; or vegan yogurt), neutralizing them and creating carbon dioxide. The bubbles from the carbon dioxide get trapped in the batter and cause them to rise. You've seen this if you have watched bubbles rise to the top in carbonated water. With a batter, the bubbles can't escape, so they take the batter with them, lifting them and creating leavening. You will want to follow the baking soda amounts listed in a recipe, as too little will result in too flat a product, while too much could cause over-rising and a bitter taste. Over-rising might sound okay, but an over-high brownie or cookie would be dry and crumbly.
Baking powder is a combination of baking soda and a dry acid, like cream of tartar or sodium aluminum sulfate. Acid requires fluid to react. The baking soda component of baking powder does not react until combined with a liquid. This means that baking powder reacts more slowly than baking soda alone, providing more time for air to get trapped. This results in a higher and more tender product.
Double-acting baking powder is the most common form of baking powder. With double-acting baking powder, the first rise occurs when you are combining ingredients in a bowl and the baking powder gets wet at room temperature. The second rise happens when the baking powder is heated, when baking has started. This step-wise rising helps to produce a fluffy, but moist, product.
Single-acting baking powder skips the first rise of double acting baking powder and only reacts once it reaches a high temperature. This type of baking powder is almost exclusively used by professional pastry chefs.
There are some times when a recipe uses both baking soda and baking powder:
- If the baking soda successfully neutralizes the acid but doesn't create enough carbon dioxide to leaven the batter completely, then baking powder is used for extra lift.
- If the recipe calls for acidic ingredients specifically for their flavor, like lemon juice or vinegar, too much baking soda would completely neutralize that flavor. Using both baking soda and baking powder will leave enough acid to give the final product a tangy flavor, while providing a nice lift.
- Baked goods brown better in highly alkaline environments. To brown better, baking soda is added to recipes where baking powder is the main leavening agent to create a more alkaline environment.
