Baking powder - what is it?

Baking powder - what is it and what is it for? Probably, if this question interests you, then you are either a novice cook and want to bake the first pie in your life, or just a person who is not indifferent to your health and saw this name on the package in the list of ingredients. In any case, let's examine in detail the composition of such a substance as baking powder. What is it, where it is applied, does it harm when eaten? Many will be interested in this information.

Baking powder - what is it?

This is the name of an artificial disintegrant, used mainly to give volume and splendor to the test. It is invariably added in the industrial production of bread (unless, of course, yeasts are used - unicellular organisms that develop in a liquid and semi-liquid medium).

History of the invention of baking powder: confectionery and baking powder

What is this substance and how much it is necessary for the production of bakery products, we have already understood. Now let's look at the history of its occurrence. After all, if the yeast bread was already known in the Middle Ages, the baking powder, the composition of which we will consider below, appeared only in 1843. He invented the British Byrd. A German August Otker in the early twentieth century received a commercial patent and founded a company for the production of baking powder, which exists in our days. In Europe and America, this substance became very popular almost immediately after the invention and was used in the production of confectionery in the industry, as well as housewives when baking homemade pies.

Composition of baking powder

It allows to significantly reduce the time of preparation of sweet baking due to the presence of acids and salts in the composition. Also, when buying a bag of baking powder, you will find in it an additional ingredient - a filler, preventing interaction between components before they are added to the dough. After they get there, a chemical reaction will occur (the filler will cease to function), carbon dioxide will be released. It is he who will become the substance that can raise the dough and allow it to be evenly baked and dried. How can I replace baking powder? Probably, you have repeatedly heard that baking soda. But you need to consider that this product has a specific taste, which, unfortunately, remains in the finished product. To prevent this, you need to add a large amount of aromatic substances - vanillin, zest, liqueur, cinnamon, cardamom. To recreate the home formula of classic baking powder, mix one part of soda, citric acid, rice flour, starch and powdered sugar. Such a mixture can be stored for a long time. And the listed ingredients partially neutralize the negative properties of soda, while retaining its ability to loosen and raise baking dough. The admirers of traditional medicine have an opinion about the harmfulness of various kinds of additives, such as yeast and soda. However, it should be generally accepted as a conjecture.