[Sca-cooks] baking soda vs. baking powder

[Terry Decker]

Why were they inedible?  Did they taste bad or were they hard as a rock?

If the fat/sugar ratio is off or the aeration doesn't take, the odds are you
get a well baked rock.

If the taste is off, then the odds are you used to much leavening.  Both
baking soda and baking powder are alkalis and if you use to much you get a
bitter after taste, which is what you want with a proper Irish soda bread,
but don't want with snickerdoodles

Bear

>Bear replied to me with:
>> Double action baking powder (most modern bp's are) aerates first while
>> the
>> batter is being mixed then again at around 140 degrees F.  Single
>> action
>> baking powder and baking soda only aerate during the mixing.  The
>> second
>> aeration makes the cookie lighter.
>Yes, I remember discussions on these before. However Maire said that
>the ones with the wrong leavening rose as much as those done using the
>regular powder. So if either one is making the cookie(?) rise the same,
>why don't they taste the same? I can see where they might not rise the
>same, but would that make them inedible? Maire, am I mis-interpreting
>your statements?
>> > Maire commented:
>> >> The very first time I ever did a recipe "all by myself" (okay, so I
>> >> was
>> >> seven) was snickerdoodles.  I put the wrong leavening in (can't
>> >> remember
>> >> if it was baking soda instead of baking powder or t'other way
>> around).
>> >> They were perfectly shaped, perfectly baked, and perfectly inedible.
>> >> <g>