[Sca-cooks] potash leavening

[Stefan li Rous]

Bear replied to Kirk with:
> >>>
> Has anyone tried hardwood ashes in quickbreads and such, I have a few
> receipes calling for them as a leavener, and was wondering how well 
> they
> work.
>
> Kirk
> <<<
> What you are after here is potash, potassium carbonate, which was 
> originally
> leached from wood ash.

Is this liquid leached through the ashes, lye? I seem to remember those 
directions as the starting point for making soap.

> If the authors of the recipes are really calling for
> hardwood ash, then they probably didn't know what they were talking 
> about,
> since you need to concentrate the potash for it to be effective.

How? Boiling it? Or putting the solution through the ash several times? 
The latter is what I seem to remember from soapmaking directions.

> Potash leaven is primarily a Dutch and German thing.

Prior to 1600 CE? Or only later?

If this solution is indeed lye, I wonder if there is a connection to 
the use of lye in such things as pretzels and bagels? Because those 
were of German origin, right?

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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