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Baking soda
Also called bicarbonate of soda, bicarb, sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate — bicarbonate of soda, bicarb — an alkali that lifts dough when it meets acid. It is not baking powder, which already contains acid. Used right, it leaves no taste; dumped in, the crumb is soapy and the crust browns too fast.
Origin
Industrial alkali became a home leavener in the nineteenth century. Irish soda bread and ANZAC biscuits made the tin ordinary.
Flavour
None in a balanced mix. Excess is metallic and soapy, and it can turn cocoa reddish.
How it is made
Soda ash is converted to bicarbonate and packed as a fine powder. Keep the cooking tin for cooking so you do not add perfume from the cleaning tub.
How to use it
Whisk it through the flour so no pockets remain. It needs an acid — buttermilk, yoghurt, brown sugar, molasses, cocoa, lemon — or it will not gas off and the alkaline taste stays. Baking powder is a different product; do not swap one-for-one. For ANZACs and sticky toffee pudding, measure; more is not a better rise. A pinch can tame tomato acidity; a teaspoon in the stew cannot.
Storage
Airtight, bone-dry. A pinch in vinegar should fizz hard. An open decade-old tin is paint, not lift.
Recipes using it
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