Soda is an indispensable component used in cooking, is considered the best leavening agent and is widely used in baking baked goods. Every housewife uses soda, but opinions differ on whether it needs to be extinguished. Why you extinguish soda, how it is done, and how you can extinguish the powder - we will tell you below.
How can you extinguish soda other than vinegar?
Why put out the soda?
Many housewives do not ask the question: why, in fact, extinguish the powder? Most simply follow advice or a recipe. Let's figure out why it is necessary to extinguish soda and whether it gives any effect. Under the influence of acid or high temperature, a chemical reaction begins and carbon dioxide bubbles form. It is the gas bubbles that help soda be considered an excellent leavening agent. They make the dough airy, porous, light and much more tasty. Having understood why extinguishing is necessary, it is worth learning more about how you can extinguish soda.
The most popular and easiest way to extinguish sodium bicarbonate is with vinegar or essence. What can replace vinegar if it is not at hand: lemon juice or other citrus fruits, citric acid, any natural fruit vinegar, boiling water, fermented milk products, sour fruit jam. Having decided on the extinguishing method, you should better understand how to properly extinguish soda.
How to properly quench baking soda with vinegar
How to extinguish soda?
When starting to cook, many are faced with the question of how to quench soda with vinegar for baking correctly. This process is simple and does not require any special skills. Do not forget that if the dough contains acidic ingredients, they will extinguish the soda, and then there is no need to add vinegar. The required amount of soda according to the recipe is combined with flour. Separately, in a container, the required amount of vinegar is diluted with water.
You can immediately add vinegar to the liquid components of the dough, for example, to eggs. The batter is poured into the flour and that's it. The reaction occurs in the test, as it should be. This method is suitable for acidic products. It is fundamentally wrong to extinguish in a separate container, since carbon dioxide should be released directly into the dough.
If you don’t have any acidic ingredients on hand, you can extinguish the soda with regular boiling water. How to extinguish soda with boiling water? Simply add a little hot water to the bicarbonate added to the flour. Then continue making the dough according to the recipe. As you can see, extinguishing soda is a simple process, accessible to any housewife.
The quality of your baked goods directly depends on the correct use of sodium bicarbonate, so be careful during the cooking process and do not forget about soda if it is in the recipe.
Baking soda slaked with vinegar is often recommended as a leavening agent in modern recipes for making pastry or pancake dough. According to the recommendations, it is not vinegar and soda (by themselves) that should be added to the dough, but the product of their interaction - sodium acetate, since this is the substance that is formed during the process of quenching soda with vinegar. Sodium acetate (food additive E262) is used in food production as a preservative or acidity regulator, but not as a leavening agent. Sodium acetate has a fairly high thermal stability and does not decompose into gaseous products under baking conditions, i.e. It doesn't leaven the dough!
Then why extinguish soda with vinegar?
Let's try to understand this issue more carefully (from the point of view of a professional chemist). By the way, pay attention to the article baking soda in yeast dough. In the meantime, let's continue.
1 medium level teaspoon contains 8 g of baking soda. If you pour vinegar (9% acetic acid solution) or vinegar essence (70% acetic acid solution) into this teaspoon (to the brim), then their mass will be approximately 4 g. Thus, in order to completely extinguish 1 teaspoon of food soda with acetic acid, you will need approximately 71 g (16 teaspoons) of vinegar (9%) or 8 g (2 teaspoons) of vinegar essence (70%).
- “Scoop soda into a spoon and drop vinegar in there, the soda will hiss, I stir it a little. All! The soda is extinguished!”;
- “add 4-6 drops of 9% vinegar to 1 teaspoon”;
- “how to extinguish soda with vinegar: mix 1 spoon of soda with 1 spoon of vinegar”;
The boldest advice recommends “to ½ tsp.” baking soda, add 1 dessert spoon of vinegar.” 1 dessert spoon holds 2 teaspoons, i.e. In this advice, it is recommended to use only 4 teaspoons of vinegar to extinguish 1 teaspoon of soda, and not 16, as required by calculation.
The conclusion is obvious - the dough is loosened by the baking soda that remains after completing the spectacular experiment of quenching it with vinegar. When the dough is heated, baking soda decomposes, releasing carbon dioxide, which gives the dough a certain porosity.
2NaHCO3 → Na2 CO3 + CO2 + H2 O
The whole point of pre-quenching the soda with vinegar is that the cook gets the opportunity to admire the impressive results of the chemical experiment that produces the “pop.”
Please note that when baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) thermally decomposes, sodium carbonate (Na2 CO3) remains in the dough. This substance is called soda ash or simply soda; in everyday life it is used for washing clothes or for treating currants from powdery mildew.
Culinary experts (who have forgotten chemistry) claim that extinguishing soda with vinegar in finished baked goods reduces the unpleasant aftertaste of soda. This is correct to some extent, since as a result of the quenching reaction, the soda content in the finished product decreases somewhat. However, the soda taste will remain until all the sodium carbonate has been destroyed by the acids in the ingredients used to make the dough. If there are no such acids or there are few of them, the taste of soda will remain.
The reaction of soda and vinegar has the following equation
NaHCO3 + CH3 COOH → CH3 COONa + CO2 + H2 O
Soda and vinegar chemical reaction
If the chemical reaction vinegar + soda takes place completely, then there will be no soda left in the dough, which gives the finished product an unpleasant “soapy” taste.
In order for the dough to be well loosened and not have a pronounced soda taste, it is necessary to add acid and soda to the dough in the correct sequence and in the right proportion.
How to replace slaked soda with vinegar?
Instead of acetic acid, any food acid (lactic, citric, malic, tartaric, etc.) or acid salts approved for use in food production can be used to neutralize soda in the dough.
Citric acid (food additive E330) is very convenient in this regard. Citric acid does not have a strong odor and is sold in a crystalline state (in the form of a monohydrate, in which there is 1 molecule of water per 1 molecule of acid: C6 H8 O7 ∙H2 O).
In order to completely extinguish 8 g (1 teaspoon) of baking soda, 6.7 g (1.5 teaspoons) of crystalline citric acid is required.
I will give a recipe for making early ripening pancakes, published more than 100 years ago (1901).
Please note that for 2.7 kg of dough in this recipe it is recommended to use only 1 teaspoon of soda, which is neutralized using 1 teaspoon of citric acid. Acid and soda are dissolved in water separately in different glasses! An acid solution is first added to the dough, stirred, and only then a soda solution is added. With this sequence of adding ingredients, the reaction between acid and soda occurs directly in the dough. Carbon dioxide quickly and evenly loosens the entire volume of dough, rather than entertaining the housewife with meaningless hissing and “bubbling” in a teaspoon.
With the ratio of citric acid and baking soda recommended in the recipe, the decomposition reaction of baking soda proceeds quite completely, but not completely. Some of the soda remains unextinguished. This is a very important condition for good loosening of the dough. Carbon dioxide released during the interaction of citric acid and baking soda loosens the pancake dough during its preparation. Excess baking soda will decompose as the pancakes bake and give them extra porosity.
Surprisingly, our great-great-grandmothers knew chemistry much better than us and knew how to use it correctly and quite intelligently.
Let's summarize what has been said.
Quenching soda with vinegar before adding it to the dough does not make culinary sense, since the carbon dioxide released during this reaction does not end up in the dough, but goes into the air. In this case, the dough is unreasonably contaminated with sodium acetate. For normal loosening of the dough, the decomposition reaction of soda with the release of carbon dioxide must occur directly in the dough, and the soda must be evenly distributed throughout its entire volume.
Every housewife should know how to extinguish soda correctly and why it is needed. The appearance and quality of flour products depend on this; appetite and family health.
Why do you need to extinguish soda, and why use vinegar?
Many baking recipes contain advice to add baking soda slaked with vinegar. Without this, the dough will turn out dense, the products will be flat and tough. Why you need to take soda, whether it is necessary to add vinegar, in what order to mix the components - recipes usually do not explain. Understanding the process is very important for baking attractive, tasty, healthy baked goods.Baking soda is a mineral salt consisting of an acidic carbonic acid residue and a sodium ion. The full chemical name is sodium bicarbonate.
Important! There are other types of soda: soda ash, caustic, crystalline, which cannot be used for food purposes under any circumstances. They have a different composition, properties, and are harmful to the human body.Baking soda is often called baking soda because it is used to drink for certain diseases.
When mixing soda and acetic acid, a chemical reaction occurs. As a result, salt is formed - sodium acetate, water and carbon dioxide, which performs an important function for the formation of dough.
When mixed with flour and other components, gaseous bubbles are evenly distributed throughout the mass. A fluffy, beautiful dough is formed. Products baked with soda slaked with vinegar have an attractive appetizing appearance and good taste.
Vinegar should be added to baking soda for several reasons:
- The release of carbon dioxide occurs quickly.
- The molecules of the gaseous substance are evenly distributed throughout the dough mass.
- The sodium acetate formed in parallel is harmless, is well absorbed in the stomach, and is included in the general metabolism.
The acetic acid residue is easily included in the exchange because such fragments are characteristic of natural biochemical processes. The body contains enzymes that ensure the utilization of acetate.
How can you extinguish soda?
You can neutralize soda with any food acid. All of them are harmless to humans and are used in the food industry.
Food acids include the following:
- dairy,
- sorbic acid,
- lemon,
- apple,
- wine
How to choose vinegar for extinguishing soda
To extinguish soda, you need to take only food vinegar, which is sold in grocery stores.
Vinegar is abbreviated as aqueous solutions of acetic acid with a concentration of 6% or 9%. The greater the mass fraction of acid in the solution, the less vinegar is needed to quench the soda.
Food vinegar is made by multi-stage synthesis or fermentation of natural raw materials. In Russia, natural vinegar is produced by no more than 30% of enterprises supplying acetic acid to the market. A large amount of natural food vinegar is imported from abroad. All food products are thoroughly cleaned and controlled. High-quality vinegar has full information about the manufacturer on the labels.
Vinegar essence is available for sale. The mass fraction of acid in it reaches 80%.
Important! To extinguish soda, you can use vinegar essence in a minimal amount, taking into account the high concentration of the substance. Doing this is not entirely convenient. A small volume of solution will less well wet the soda powder. The essence can be diluted, but this is an additional hassle.Regular food vinegar, purchased from grocery stores, is a good way to extinguish soda.
Learning to extinguish soda correctly
Adding vinegar to baking soda is not as simple as it may seem. You need to carefully take the amount of soda indicated in the recipe.If some of the soda remains unreacted, the dough may develop an unpleasant aftertaste. If there is an excess of acid, the whole mass may acquire a sour taste. The dough will not be very fluffy and flexible.
We extinguish soda with vinegar
There are two main approaches to preparing dough with slaked soda. Some chefs advise mixing vinegar and bicarbonate in a separate small container, such as a wide-bottomed glass. Add enough vinegar to wet all the powder. After gas bubbles appear, the mixture should be immediately poured into the dough and mixed well.
Other bakers believe that baking soda should be added to the flour and vinegar to the liquid components of the dough. After combining, the entire mass should be thoroughly mixed for several minutes so that the quenching reaction takes place completely. In our opinion, it is better to carry out the extinguishing process in a separate container.
Important! The bubbling mixture must be quickly added to the dough so that the carbon dioxide does not have time to evaporate.
Quenching soda with citric acid
Citric acid is popular among housewives, which can also be successfully used to prepare dough. Add half the amount of citric acid crystals to the amount of soda indicated in the recipe, pour the mixture into the dough and mix thoroughlyHow to extinguish baking soda: video
All details of the procedure can be seen in the video. It's useful to see how this is done in practice. Please note that if the dough contains fermented milk products: kefir, yogurt, sour cream, then the lactic acid present in them successfully neutralizes the soda. In such cases, there is no need to add vinegar or citric acid.Properly prepared white powder, available to every housewife, will be an excellent ingredient for preparing fluffy and very tasty baked goods. It is this that can replace baking powder, giving the flour mass a light and porous structure.
Properly extinguishing baking soda means using the correct proportions, as well as adhering to certain rules for the procedure. This will allow you to avoid spoiled products, the appearance and taste of which kills any desire to eat, and get stunning, magnificent masterpieces. If you don’t know how to extinguish soda and what substances can be used for this, be sure to check out the recipes I offer.
Absolutely every woman knows perfectly well that sodium bicarbonate is an excellent leavening agent for dough and can be used in baking. Have you ever thought that expensive baking mixtures contain sodium bicarbonate, as well as additional components, which are chemical additives? Knowing how to extinguish soda, you can avoid unnecessary expenses and do not harm your own health by eliminating the use of components harmful to the body.
When preparing cakes, pancakes, as well as pies and even pastries, you should use baking soda, but not in its pure form. In these cases it should be extinguished. Many people think that this allows you to remove the taste of soda in baked goods, and this procedure is not at all necessary. But this opinion is partly erroneous. The soapy and unpleasant aftertaste is indeed eliminated, but it should also be remembered that it is the interaction of sodium bicarbonate and the acidic environment that makes baked goods incredibly tasty, light and airy.
Many housewives are already accustomed to pampering their households with delicious pancakes and pancakes in the morning. But at the same time, many people add soda, quenched with vinegar, to the dough. In fact, this is not entirely correct. In this article we will figure out how to extinguish soda.
This means that a chemical reaction has occurred between sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid, releasing carbon dioxide. This gas is what lifts the dough.
It is worth understanding that if the recipe specifies the use of sour milk or kefir, then there is no point in introducing vinegar.
This is necessary to give the confectionery product fluffiness and airiness. Some recipes don't require vinegar at all. This happens if sour milk or kefir is used as an acid.
In general, the whole process is quite absurd. Most housewives simply take and pour soda into a spoon and pour vinegar into it, watching the bubbles. What's really going on? The chemical reaction between sodium bicarbonate and vinegar produces carbon dioxide. But in order for the dough to rise and become fluffy, ideally the reaction should occur in the dough.
As we found out, it is wrong to extinguish sodium bicarbonate with vinegar in a spoon. After all, it will turn out that most of the bubbles will simply disappear and the dough will not rise properly. That is why it is necessary to extinguish sodium bicarbonate correctly.
Instructions:
- It is best to pour the specified amount of baking soda into the flour.
- Pour vinegar into water or milk. The result will be a slightly acidic mixture.
- After this, the components are mixed
- As a result, bubbles will appear, which will raise the dough.
- You can watch the process yourself when the dough really becomes fluffy.
Yes, there is not much difference, because it is necessary that there is enough acid. That is, 6% vinegar will be needed more than 70% vinegar essence. Ideally, for 1 spoon of sodium bicarbonate you need 70 g of 9% vinegar or 95 ml of 6%. This amount must first be mixed with milk or water and poured into soda mixed with flour.
Please note that if you add grated tangerines, apples, sour milk or kefir to the dough, then you do not need to extinguish the soda. That is, no vinegar is added. You risk ruining the dough with too much acid.
You can extinguish sodium bicarbonate and balsamic vinegar. You won't ruin anything. But the fact is that it is destroyed during heat treatment and its pleasant sweet and sour taste disappears. It is almost never used in baking.
Vinegar essence with a concentration of 70% can also extinguish soda. To extinguish 8 g of sodium bicarbonate (spoon), you need 8 g of essence.
There are many options for repaying soda. Vinegar by itself is not very healthy, so it is best to use other products. Almost any of them is available in our refrigerator.
Vinegar replacement options:
- Sour jam
- Lemon juice
- Pulp of tangerines or oranges
- Spoiled milk
- Kefir
- Serum
- Curdled milk
- Boiling water
The most interesting thing is that sodium bicarbonate can be extinguished with ordinary boiling water. The thing is that bicarbonate decomposes at temperatures above 60 ° C, so boiling water promotes the release of carbon dioxide. In this case, it is better not to extinguish the crystals in a separate container. The best option is to prepare choux pastry.
It is best to also stick to the recipe, where baking soda is mixed with the dry ingredients, and lemon juice with the liquid ones. That is, squeeze a tablespoon of juice into a glass of water and mix with 8 g of sodium bicarbonate. Soda is also pre-mixed with flour.
Lemon juice can be replaced with citric acid. Everything is very simple here, since sodium bicarbonate is mixed with acid crystals and flour. After this, water or milk is poured into the dry mixture. The reaction occurs directly in the test. This has a positive effect on its texture.
As you can see, it is not necessary to extinguish soda with vinegar and not in a spoon. It is best to mix the dry and liquid components of the dough.
VIDEO: Sodium bicarbonate and vinegar
