Baking soda

Hi Suhasini,

Even I had this doubt for a long time and I found this information online and saved it.

Hope this clarifies your doubt.


Question: What Is the Difference Between Baking Soda & Baking Powder?

Answer: Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents, which means they are added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to 'rise'. Baking powder contains baking soda, but the two substances are used under different conditions.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (e.g., yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes which call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat!
Baking Powder Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it includes the acidifying agent already (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch). Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake recipes which include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven.


How Are Recipes Determined?
Some recipes call for baking soda, while others call for baking powder. Which ingredient is used depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. The ultimate goal is to produce a tasty product with a pleasing texture. Baking soda is basic and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk. You'll find baking soda in cookie recipes. Baking powder contains both an acid and a base and has an overall neutral effect in terms of taste. Recipes that call for baking powder often call for other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk. Baking powder is a common ingredient in cakes and biscuits.
Substituting in Recipes You can substitute baking powder in place of baking soda (you'll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you can't use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking soda by itself lacks the acidity to make a cake rise. However, you can make your own baking powder if you have baking soda and cream of tartar. Simply mix two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda.

I have another use for baking soda for tea drinkers.

In my house, my husband does the tea-making since my tea is not upto his standards. All the pots in which he makes tea have to be scrubbed to remove the tea stains, which can be a daunting task, esp. since one of the tea-pots is enamel.

Mix 1/2 cup plain vinegar and 1/4 cup baking soda and bring it to a boil in the pot to be cleaned. Then just a soft scrubbing removes all those disgusting tea stains in the pot. I then transfer the vinegar-baking soda mix to all the tea-cups and let it soak for a few minutes. This gets out the tea-stains the dishwasher does not remove.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the reply... was helpful.

This is useful info.Also the difference between baking powder and baking soda really was quite detailed.Thks