Answer my baking soda question!

[Chefzhat]

Um, fellow chefs, tell me the reason for baking soda in recipes???

Here's why. We make our own pancake batter here at home, which calls for 3 tbs. of baking soda. My husband can taste the baking soda and is totally grossed out by the bitter taste.

Can I leave this stuff out? I've cranked it down to 1 tbs. but he can still taste it.

What to do What to do . . .

In your culinary debt,

Debie

[SusanT]

Baking soda is a leavening agent (makes stuff rise)

How much flour does the recipe call for? 3 tablespoons is a lot of baking soda.

[Sami]

As Susan T said, the baking soda is what causes all the bubbles you see as the pancake cooks. Try sifting or blending your flour with your 1 tsp baking soda and see whether dispersing the soda throughout will eliminate the taste for DH. You also might try buttermilk pancakes and the the buttermilk taste really blots out any other.

Sami

[wallycat]

I don't know if i'm right or not....but baking powder, I thought levens...b. soda lightens a product; it also neutralizes acids in a highly acidic recipe....

[Melman]

Alton Brown had a pancake show one season. He mixed up a dry homemade pancake mix...and then added the wet ingredients when the pancakes were made. Here's how he determined the amount of baking soda:

"A quarter teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour."

Is that anything close tot he measurements in your full recipe? By the way, I've made his pancake recipe. EXCELLENT!

[Beth]

Sounds like a lot of baking soda. Does the batter tasts salty too? Is it possible that it should be baking powder?

I can't think of any recipe for anything that I use more than 1 or possibly 1-1/2 tsp. in. The pancake recipe I use most calls for only 1/2 tsp. That has some leavening impact, but it is really necessary to take the edge off the sourdough! We forgot it once and couldn't eat them. Tuh-wang!

[Chefzhat]

Okay, duh, got my terms screwed up - hubby doesn't like the BAKING POWDER, not soda.

Here's the recipe - 1 egg, 1 c flour, 3/4 c milk, 1 tbs sugar, 2 tbs veg. oil, 3 tsp baking POWDER, 1/4 tsp salt.

Maybe I'll try Alton Brown's recipe.

Thanks!

[Chefzhat]

You know, now that I look at what I originally posted I think I must have been on too many cold pills! Sorry guys! I'm a dork!

[AD]

Actually, your recipe calls for 3 teaspoons of baking powder; that's 1 tablespoon. I didn't know baking powder had any taste, but with a whopping 3 tablespoons, I suppose it could taste somewhat "off."

On a side note, one thing I have learned is that baking powder (not baking soda) is very high in calcium. It has 16% of the daily value per teaspoon!

[Julie O]

Some people can taste the aluminum salt in baking powder more than others. Some stores sell non-aluminum baking powder, as does King Arthur. It might be worth a try to test the non-aluminum kind. Hope this helps.