"Tasslehoff" and baking soda and I'm confused.
Baking soda and baking powder provides both leaving gases. the baking soda will immediately neutraLize the acidity of the fruit while the baking powder will provide the needed leavening of the batter.AS the carbon dioxide released by the immediate soda neutralization is just released most of it before it reaches the oven. Therefore the baking powder which has a gradual release of leaveming gases provide much of the leavening performance. In relation to this topic I had also provide the answer of the original poster of this thread which was not provided appropriate answers previously ;and it will also help in your understanding of the effects:
?I have read that 1/2 tsp. of baking soda is the equivalent of 2 tsp. of baking powder. But I wonder about that. If I use 1/2 tsp. of soda, do I add 1 tsp. or 1-1/2 tsp. of baking powder?'
It just doesn't seem that this rule of thumb that 1/2 tsp. of soda equals 2 tsp. of baking soda is correct'
Baking powder just contains 30% of baking soda. Therefore if you convert your volume quantities to weight you will be have per teaspoon of baking soda weigh 5 grams and the baking powder is 3.5 grams. Now your statement that 2 teaspoon of baking powder is equal to ½ teaspoon of baking soda is not correct
2 tsp of baking powder is only 3.5 x 2= 7 grams which has only 0.30 x 7 = 2.1 baking soda.?. The muffins never rise as high as they do with 3 tsp. of baking powder and 1 cup of regular milk.'
Now you are using 3 teaspoon of baking powder which is 10.5 grams. That will be 3.15 grams soda. Which is reasonable.
?Lately, I have used 1 tsp. of Clabber Girl (an S.A.S. powder with aluminum) plus 1/2 tsp. of soda. I realize that the "extras" in the recipe will weigh it down. Next time I'll try it with 1-1/2 tsp. of powder. When I made blueberry muffins which had 1 cup of blueberries, the muffins did not rise as high as another muffin of a similar recipe without it.'
Now the total soda in that combination is only 1.05 grams in the baking powder plus 2.5 gram of the added soda =3.55 grams soda.
Also, when I made banana muffins, I had lots of acid in there (brown sugar, banana, and buttermilk). So I used 1 tsp. of each soda and baking powder.
Then That will be 1.05 grams + 5 gram =6.05 gram soda which will result in better volume.
'The muffins had beautiful huge caps! So I would like to know how to get those huge caps on every muffin, even the non-fruit ones that don't have so much acid in them. I always use at least 1 cup of buttermilk, however, so I will always use that 1/2 tsp. of soda in there. I just need to know how much baking powder.'
Therefore in order to obtain the desired muffin caps you had to increase the baking powder so that it will enough gas produced by the inherent soda. If you add ½ tsp soda to neutralize the acidity of buttermilk then you will need 2 tsp of baking powder which will sum up in total soda as;
2.5 grams + 2.1 grams =4.6 grams soda (not enough) Now if you use 3 teaspoon baking powder that will provide you with 3.15 grams of soda plus the soda used to neutralize the buttermilks which is 2.5 grams = 3.15 + 2.5 = 5.65 grams soda which is better but will only produce medium caps then 3.5 tsp of baking powder = 3.5x 3.5 =12.25 grams x 0.30 = 3.675 Now add this to the soda added: 3.675 + 2.5 = 6.175 grams, the level of soda you needed in your acidic banana muffins. Therefore if you want to make neutral muffin batter increasing the baking powder is the best option. Adding soda is optional in this as long as you do not use buttermilk. Generally muffins with caps had high amount of baking powder about 3.5 to 4 tsp baking powder in your required flour of 2 cups. Indeed it can have some aftertaste as the level of soda or baking powder is increased. But the level I mentioned is common in the baking industry and its still produce a neutral taste.But there are some sensitive people that can detect it at that level.?Another issue is what type of baking powder. I just can't seem to get Rumford (non-aluminum baking powder) to work as well as the Clabber Girl. Does anyone else have this experience? I have used a couple of different cans that were new, so it's not old or defective. But the muffins definitely rise better with Clabber Girl which has aluminum. I would like to hear from anyone who has used both types. Does your experience with these two show that aluminum-type baking powders seem to give a higher rise?'
Rumford type of baking powder is a sodium pyrophosphate type which is inferior to the clabber girl or sodium aluminium sulfate type in leavening performance especially in cakes and muffins .In cake making especially high liquid types I always insist on the Clabber girl and Calumet baking powder. The pyrophosphate type is not that robust in comparison; and you made the right observation.
Roy