[Sca-cooks] Bakers borax again

[Glenn Gorsuch]

The Good Eats books are at home, and I'm not, but if I recall, Alton Brown
did a show on making one's own bagels (or pretzels, I can't remember
which), and he talked about using lye to change the surface starches to
give that glossy, slightly hard crust.  Then, of course, his "lawyer team"
showed up, and forced him to NOT suggest doing that, due to the danger of
the use of pure lye, so he pointed out that you could use a basic solution
of baking soda in water to achieve the same effect.  So ,yes, it's an
action of a basic solution on the starches.

Gwyn