As soon as you’ve mixed a batter with baking soda and the acid, you want to get it cooking right away, because the reaction has already started-heat will also decrease the pH and help decompose sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3) into sodium carbonate (Na 2CO 3), water (H 2O), and carbon dioxide (CO 2). In early days, that often meant sour milk. For those whose memories of high school chemistry are long lost to time, a refresher on pH: On a scale of 0–14, 7 is neutral (that’s the pH for pure water), anything under neutral is acidic (battery acid has a pH of 0), and above neutral is alkaline or basic (lye has a pH of about 13).īaking soda is a base-its pH is an alkaline 8.5-and to produce carbon dioxide, it needs an acid to react with. Leaveners work in several different ways: whipping in air (as with beaten-to-stiff egg whites), trapping in steam (as when moist batters meet high heat), or producing carbon dioxide (that would be yeast, baking soda, and baking powder) to expand existing air bubbles in a dough or batter.īoth baking soda and baking powder produce carbon dioxide through an acid-base reaction. Rise upĪ cloud-like soufflé, a buoyant sponge cake, a tender scone-if you were to Innerspace yourself à la Martin Short’s Jack inside a well-made baked good, you’d mostly see vast pockets of space.
John Dwight developed baking soda in a home kitchen, soon creating the company now synonymous with the stuff: Arm & Hammer. It wasn’t until 1846 that brothers-in-law Dr. In one rather tragic attempt, French chemist Nicolas Leblanc developed a process for making soda ash in 1791, but his patent and factory were confiscated during the French Revolution, and even after Napoleon returned them to him, LeBlanc couldn’t raise enough capital to reopen his business.