Q. Doesn't baking soda need an acid to work? A. Yes. These ingredients/foods are commonly used with baking soda in leavening: citrus, vinegar, cranberries, rhubarb, apples, berries, apricots, orange juice, honey, yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, bananas, carrots, pumpkin, molasses, cocoa and chocolate (listed in decending order from high acid - pH of 2.0 to lower acid - 6.0). Baking soda is an alkali, or a base, and it reacts with acid to make carbon dioxide. Without acid, baking soda can't properly do its job. But think of it as "lightening" the baked good because of the carbon dioxide, not just leavening, because eggs also contribute leavening. Exception to the rule (isn't there always one!): Occasionally you find a recipe that doesn't contain an acid counterpart. There's still some carbon dioxide produced, just not as "lively". The baking soda that is left unnutralized can have a soapy, bitter taste. That's another reason to sift, or thoroughly mix, dry ingredients together to make sure they are evenly distributed throughout the bulk of the ingredients, and to break up a soda "lump" that can remain because of the quick mixing techniques normally used on chemically-leavened baked goods. The alkalinity can also cause color changes - yellowing the pigments in flour, can accelerate browning, and alter the colors of chocolate and molasses. If the recipe also has cream of tartar in it, that's also an acid that is used to complete the reaction of the soda. -------------------- Q. Doesn't baking soda begin to react with the liquids immediately? A. The liquid ingredients cause the blending of the acid and alkali ingredients in a mixture to create a chemical reaction that makes carbon dioxide. Not just the liquid. If the acid ingredient is a liquid (sour milk, yogurt, etc.,) it is the cause of the reaction. It may take the blending of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to perform the reaction. Baking powder reacts once with the liquid, and then again with the heat from the oven (hence, double-acting baking powder). Hence - the tests for activity level of chemical leaveners. You mix soda with vinegar (a liquid acid) to test it's activity level, while baking powder only needs to be tested with hot water. --------------------- Q. Can the batter be frozen in balls if only baking soda is used, or will they go flat when later thawed and baked? A. Generally speaking, you can freeze cookie dough, even when only leavened with soda. Occasionally you find a recipe that doesn't perform as well when the dough is frozen. Eggs also perform part of the leavening. -Grainlady

LL --> when I was designing our kitchen, I did trial prep and baking to see the space I would need. I found that cooking prep on the whole needed less space as the process was sequential and the tools and the ingredients are not out for the entire duration. Having a water source in a prep sink actually reduced the amount of space. The rinsed veggies can drain right over the sink instead of in a colander on the counter. Baking on other hand needed multiple ingredients out for a longer time and more specialist tools were needed. Shifters, bowl for dry ingredients, wet ingredients, parchment paper, brushes, spatulas, measuring cups, bowls of stuff. The work area for kneading and rolling was also more. I could not spare two large prep areas and figured that I am unlikely to cook and bake at the same time. At least not larger more complicated recipes. So 36in for baking area and 40+for the prep.

That is practically what I did. Panera's chocolate pastry is made with croissant dough giving it a good chew. Using puff pastry, I used the egg wash over the final assembly. Next time will be before rolling. I did use milk, as I do with apple pie crust, to seal it though. I also experimented with a small rectangle of baked puff pastry dough under the chocolate before the final wrappingand it worked very well. A second trick was to cook the pastries on a cooling rack and not directly on the parchment/cookie-sheet. There is no telling which new idea did the trick. I did not get any pics as they evaporated before I could power up my phone.... It is very interesting the puff pastry dough package did not explain what size the dough would be. After cutting the pieces to what I wanted, I rolled them out to double the length for better rolling and sealing.

Mainly bread. I did make some nutty-oatmeal bars but they're lacking something, to me. I want something chewy like the packaged/processed ones. This called for maple syrup as the sweetener and glue, maybe honey or corn syrup would be better, I don't know. But yes, cold weather=oven. I made a meatloaf and pork tenderloin and roasted veggies on Sunday, all in the oven. The meatloaf was for Monday's dinner.