Oh, how sometimes you want to please your loved ones with a chic delicacy prepared with your own hands: a pie or biscuit, cake or pancakes. But in almost all recipes there is such a phrase: "Put out half a teaspoon of soda."
But often the young housewives are just interested in the question of how to extinguish soda. Typically, this moment is present in the recipes for making various types of baking. Use soda so that the cake or cake for the cake turned out to be lush, and not a rigid "sole".
Of course, for this you can do perfectly and baking powder, bought in a store. By the way, it is created on the basis of elemental soda and acid, which interact with the liquid. The chemical process practically does not differ from how the hostess herself can extinguish soda, without unnecessary expenses for the baking powder.
If the recipe indicates that soda should be taken at the tip of the knife, then the quenching process can generally be omitted. When more sodium dioxide is needed, about a teaspoon, then you need to neutralize it. During this reaction, soda and acid interact with the release of carbon dioxide, which “raises” the product, creating a pomp of the product. The acid itself turns into water. Therefore, it is very important to observe the proportions correctly, otherwise either acid or soda may remain unused, which may affect the taste of the product.
Given the fact that soda is neutralized not only by exposure to acids, but also at high temperatures, it is not scary if the acid is slightly less than that required for a complete reaction: the remainder of the soda will decompose already during the preparation of the dish. But the excess acid will remain there, giving the product not quite the flavor that the hostess is counting on.
So, we came to the conclusion that the less acid, the better. Since soda can be quenched with any acid that can be consumed, vinegar (wine, apple, fruit or diluted vinegar essence) or dairy products, lemon juice or citric acid should be used . Why it is recommended to use diluted vinegar, rather than essence, can be understood from the beginning of the article. After all, to determine the exact amount of concentrated acid is quite difficult, and you can easily "go too far." For the same purpose, it is better to use not a tea spoon, holding it directly above the dough, but a glass placed on the table.
The amount of acid is determined empirically, gradually adding it to a glass of soda and stirring. As soon as the soda begins to boil, actively emitting carbon dioxide, the mixture is poured into the dough and mixed. But there is no better way how to extinguish soda "in the dry way" by mixing it with flour. Acid is recommended to be added to liquid ingredients, for example, to milk, water, kefir - those components that are included in the recipe. During the mixing of products, a chemical process will occur, and the question of how to extinguish soda will disappear by itself.
You can also use a similar option, replacing dry liquid acid, which can always be bought for mere pennies in a supermarket.
This method, of course, is more convenient, since extinguishing soda in the air is not entirely correct. After all, the very carbon dioxide that we need to open the dough, almost all goes into the air. Thus, the process loses its significance. Perhaps that is why many housewives prefer to use purchased baking powder. Because it is in them that dry acid and soda have the ability to interact with each other, being "inside" the test, which creates maximum splendor and tenderness to the product.
And in order not to spend money on buying a baking powder, make it yourself by pouring the right amount of soda and a pinch of citric acid into flour. This will save the hostess from the problem of quenching soda, from the need to measure acid and dilute the essence, achieving the desired concentration.