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Chemical leavening, or, the case for storing baking soda

2K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Marcy 
#1 ·
I was making some tortillas tonight, and I saw I was almost out of baking powder. I thought I might have to make some more. It wouldn't have been a huge deal for me, but it occurred to me that most people would be a little lost. Of course, readers here won't be most people...

So a lot of you are planning on living completely isolated (or at least for the possibility of it, in a worst case scenario). Have you considered how you'll leaven your breads?

Biological leavening can be easy, all it takes is a yeast colony. It's dead easy to get one now, and fairly easy to keep it going - all you have to do is keep making bread and/or beer. You can even restart it, with a little luck and a sourdough recipe. That's not the subject of this post.

Chemical leavening requires non-regenerating ingredients, baking powder or baking soda. While baking soda, properly stored (sealed, cool, and dry), it will last practically indefinitely. Baking powder is an acid-base-separator mix that will break down in months, regardless of how you keep it.

Do you know how to make more of them?

One might be well advised to stock up on a tub of baking soda. It has lots of uses. I mean LOTS. It's great for bee stings, for example. But it's also hard to synthesize. You could grind egg shells, combine them with salt, and heat them with ammonia and carbon dioxide. But that's a lot of work and requires specialized equipment. You can also get it from some springs and mines in colorado and wyoming (if wikipedia can be trusted on it), but the rest of us are SOL.

But has anyone given thought to storing it? I know people go ape-poop over storing up lots of canned wheat and rice, but how are you going to get it to rise? I can't recall once hearing anyone say they're sealing up some buckets of baking soda.

As far as baking powder goes, it's just two parts baking soda, one part acid salt, and one part corn starch. You can mix it right before use and omit the corn starch, that's just to make it flow better and offset a little bit of pre-reaction in storage. You could also use 1/4 part acid to 1/2 part baking soda for each part of baking powder a recipe calls for. What do you use for acid? Vinegar and cream of tartar are often readily available, and easy to make at home. Vinegar... make cider or wine, then let an acidobacter loose on it. Cream of tartar is just powdered tartaric acid, and you can get it on the dry parts of wine barrels. Or use baking soda and buttermilk.

At any rate, I'm hoping this post has made you think beyond that #10 can of red wheat you're betting on.
 
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#2 ·
I don't know if it is this way everywhere, but I found out quite by accident that you can buy the little boxes of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda at Wally-World for $1.29 a box or you can go over to the laundry section and buy a 4 pound box for 2 bucks and a little change.

Just make sure that you are getting BAKING Soda, not WASHING Soda. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Washing soda is sodium carbonate. They are NOT the same thing.

Like posted above I use baking soda for just about everything to do with cleaning anymore. I even pour a 1/2 cup down my drains, followed by a cup of vinegar, every Monday to keep my drains clear. Be sure and run the hot water for a bit after the bubbling stops.
 
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