Soda bread (was Re: [Sca-cooks] restricted ingredients

[Bill Fisher]

On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 12:28:11 -0500, Lonnie D. Harvel <ldh at ece.gatech.edu> wrote:
> 
> What IS cream of tartar? I have this bottle of it sitting in my cabinet,
> and have little idea of what to do with it. (OK, I  know it is potassium
> hydrogen tartrate, KC _4 H _5 O _6 )  From Cadoc's post, about using it
> as the base, it is an acidic salt. Up to now, I only used it to
> stabilize my egg whites, more as a magic powder than any real
> understanding of what it was doing. Didn't realize it was in my baking
> powder. Lookout! this is starting to make sense!
> 
> Aoghann.
> I have a vague memory of it being related to wine making...

Ergh, brainfart - it will be your acid - ugh!   Cream of Tartar is a
by-product of wine production, made from wine sediment after the wine
is poured off.  I don't
know the exact process, you would probably find it online somewhere.

The reason why it works well with egg whites, is that egg whites are a base -
add the cream of tartar and it provides gas for lift and keeps the whites from 
flopping.  It also helps keep the eggwhites up when you add heavier things
like sugar or cocoa powder to them.  It is also used to make things creamier
but I think that is due to the acids breaking down crystaline structures in the
foods,

Baking powder has cream of tartar and baking soda in it, just add liquid and you
get gas bubbles.  Double acting baking powder has sodium aluminum sulfate,
which you need additional base in your food (usually egg) 'cause its acids are 
released when heated.  You can get phosphate based single acting powders as
 well, but they are slower acting and give a lower rise.  I don't know
how they make phosphate based powders, or where they hail from,
probably modern chemistry.

I don't use the DA powders, just the single.  Aluminum sulfate is bitter.

Cadoc
-- 

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