Last week I wrote about how important an ingredient such as baking soda was in making banana bread. Let’s look further at its science.
Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is an alkali that reacts to acid and creates carbon dioxide bubbles that leaven baked goods. When I did not add the 2 teaspoons of baking soda, I ended up with a flat, unleavened bread.
Baking soda has a soapy taste, so it’s important when baking, the dry ingredients such as flour and baking soda are sifted. Some recipes call for sifting twice to assure the baking soda is well-distributed into the flour.
Thankfully, baking soda is mild unlike other alkali substances such as lye or lime and does not require wearing gloves when handling. Pretzels are dipped in a solution of lye and water to give them the distinctive flavor and deep brown color. Lye also is used to cure olives and make Chinese 100-year-old eggs.
Lime is added to corn kernels to break them down and ground into masa for tortillas. Mild cocoa powders for hot chocolate are made by treating natural cocoas with alkaline carbonate minerals. The darkness or almost black color of Oreos are from an extreme version of this process.
According to Harold McGee, “Acids and alkalis reflect the double nature of water. The water molecule, H20, can come apart into a positively charge H, or proton, and a negatively charged OH, or hydroxyl. In pure neutral water, there are equal numbers of protons and hydroxyls. If you add something to the water that shifts the balance in favor of protons, then the mixture is acidic. If you add something that causes the hydroxyls to outnumber protons, then the mixture is alkaline.
“Why do proton-hydroxyl proportions matter? Because these charged bits are small, mobile and quick to react with larger, more complicated molecules — changing them, and the foods they’re part of. Hydroxyls are especially good at breaking fats and oils apart and turning them into soaps. This is probably the reason that alkaline materials feel slippery on the fingers or in the mouth. They’re thought to react with trace skin oils and form soaps that then lubricate the surfaces.”
Baking powder is another leavening agent and is a mixture of carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. When added to baked goods, it increases the volume and lightens the texture of the finished product. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, creating bubbles in the wet mixture to expand.
Because baking powder is an acid and an alkali, when applied to chicken it acts just like salt.
It draws moisture to the surface of the poultry skin and allows the water to evaporate. The acid in baking powder helps break down proteins within the skin, and the alkali accelerates the browning process, meaning the skin can crisp more quickly when the chicken is baked.
I just filmed my cooking show on Na Leo TV and my theme was to cook healthy foods for the football season.
Using the thought process of how baking powder can be added to chicken to help draw the water and make a beautiful browned end product, I baked chicken wings using this method, as per Cook’s Illustrated.
Baked
Chicken Wings
Serves: 4-6
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Set wire rack in foil-lined baking sheet. Pat dry with paper towels and transfer to a 1 gallon zip-closing bag:
5 pounds chicken wings, halved at joints (save the wing tips to make stock)
Combine and add to bag:
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
Toss to coat.
Arrange wings in a single layer on the lower middle oven rack for 30 minutes.
Move wings to upper middle rack, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees and roast until wings are golden brown and crisp, 40-50 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Remove baking sheet from oven, let stand 5 minutes.
Transfer to a large bowl and toss with sauce of your choice.
And here are some great sauces:
Smoky
BBQ Sauce
Combine in a small bowl:
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle in adobo sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
Buffalo
Wing Sauce
Combine in a small bowl:
1/2 cup hot sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon molasses
Sweet and Spicy Thai Wing Sauce
Combine in a saucepan, simmer over medium heat until sugar is dissolved:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup lime juice from 2 limes
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
Turn off heat, add:
2 tablespoons nam pla or fish sauce
• • •
Foodie bites
I received a lot of emails last Tuesday morning from readers because after a discussion about leaving out the baking soda, I forgot about the bananas in the recipe. Eight small or four large bananas, very ripe, should be in the recipe and, thank you, Lance Samura, you add them after you have mixed the unsalted butter and sugar well. The mixture should be fluffy and light in color. Add them whole if they are very ripe and soft, or you can mash them before adding the bananas. Sorry, it must have been a senior moment. Here is the corrected recipe:
Banana Bread (corrected)
Makes: 2 loaves
Spray and line with parchment paper, 2 loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a standing mixer add:
2 sticks unsalted butter, soft but still cold
2 cups sugar
Mix until well-blended and fluffy. Add one at a time:
4 large eggs
4 large or about 8 small very ripe bananas (if they are very soft, it is not necessary to mash them)
In another bowl, sift together:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
Add dry to wet ingredients and mix till just combined. Add:
1/2 cup walnuts, pecans or macadamia nuts
Mix to combine and place evenly in two loaf pans. Bake for one hour. Check the middle of the loaves to be sure they are completely cooked, otherwise when they are removed from the oven, the middle will sink.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808@gmail.com.
