Baking Powder and Baking Soda (2024)

FAQs

Do I need both baking soda and baking powder? ›

Many recipes need both kinds of reactions to achieve the intended overall balance of flavor and texture, which is why you'll often see both baking soda and baking powder in a recipe. Even though the ingredients are both adding air during the baking process, they're complements, not substitutes.

As with baking soda, the purpose of baking powder is to create air bubbles that give your baked goods their light, airy texture. There are two types of baking powder: single action and double action. Single action baking powder creates the carbon dioxide bubbles upon contact with moisture, similar to baking soda.

Recipes that use both baking soda and baking powder

The most common reason is that these recipes contain an acid, but the combination with baking soda is not enough to fully leaven the recipe, so baking powder is used to add the necessary lift.

If you don't have either baking powder or baking soda, consider switching gears and relying on another type of leavener altogether: whipped egg whites. Instead of sparking a chemical reaction to produce carbon dioxide, whipped egg whites introduce air to the batter, bringing natural height to your baked goods.

If you accidentally add baking soda instead of baking powder to baked goods, they won't rise because there is not enough acid. To fix this, add about one tablespoon of white or apple cider vinegar for every half teaspoon of baking soda to the liquids before mixing with the dry ingredients.

In muffins, there's usually only baking powder. Baking powder is double acting, meaning it activates upon mixing with moisture and then again upon the heat of the oven. For recipes only leavened with baking soda, which loses efficacy over time if it's not baked immediately, this technique likely wouldn't work as well.

The baking soda reacted faster with vinegar than baking powder did and also produced more bubbles. The baking powder also bubbled when vinegar was added, but the overall reaction was slower and the bubbles did not rise as high in the cup as they did with baking soda.

Make your own: Remember, baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and cream of tartar — which means you can easily make it yourself. Sub for 1 teaspoon baking powder: Combine 1/4 teaspoon baking soda + 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar + 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch or tapioca starch.

Increase the Quantity for an Easy Fix

If you know how much extra you added, just increase the other ingredients in the recipe to match the amount of baking soda or baking powder that you used.

Too much baking powder can cause the batter to be bitter tasting. It can also cause the batter to rise rapidly and then collapse. (i.e. The air bubbles in the batter grow too large and break causing the batter to fall.)

Can I use both baking soda and baking powder in banana bread? ›

As a general rule, you can use either baking soda OR baking powder in banana bread – both ingredients will make your banana bread rise. While baking soda will react with acidic ingredients in the batter to raise your bread, baking powder can leaven banana bread without the addition of acidic ingredients.

In fact, it's good for up to three years. If you've opened your baking soda, you'll want to use it up or throw it out after six months. Baking soda and powder are both important ingredients in baking and to be most effective, fresher is always better.

Baking soda is good indefinitely past its best by date, although it can lose potency over time. You can use a rule of thumb—two years for an unopened package and six months for an opened package. While old baking soda may not produce as much leavening action, it is still safe to eat.

How to Tell When Baking Powder Goes Bad. Baking powder won't have an off smell or taste—unless it's been contaminated with something else. And it is safe to use past its expiration date, even if it isn't as effective. You'll just end up with a flatter, denser baked good than you would if you used fresh baking powder.

Baking soda is most commonly used in cookie and muffin recipes. Baking powder, however, already contains an acid and a base and has a more neutral taste, which works great when baking cakes and bread.

Adding baking powder is the easiest way to make fluffy pancakes. There's more than one way to make the bubbles that make a pancake fluffy, but the easiest way is by adding a raising agent such as baking powder.

Professional bakers know that once batches are increased, the leavening agents are decreased. When doubling up cake recipes like our Carrot Cake, leave the baking powder amounts as they are. But be sure to pour the double batch into separate cake pans.