Expired Baking Soda

[iii_bake]

Thank you all for your comments & advices.

I am kind of coming to a dead end here.

Switching the jar or mis measuring i totally not the fault.

They are two different noticable jars and i carefully measured and did focus.

I will try again with the recipe and reduce the soda.

1/2 tsp of soda should not have this much impact of disaster, should it?

Thanks again,

iii

Edited June 8, 2008 by iii_bake (log)

[sheetz]

It also occurred to me that there are two kinds of buttermilk: cultured and old-fashioned, the two not being interchangeable in recipes. In the US we only have the cultured variety, but I understand that in other parts of the world the old-fashioned variety is common. Are you certain of the type of buttermilk you are using?

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-buttermilk.htm

[andiesenji]

It also occurred to me that there are two kinds of buttermilk: cultured and old-fashioned, the two not being interchangeable in recipes. In the US we only have the cultured variety, but I understand that in other parts of the world the old-fashioned variety is common. Are you certain of the type of buttermilk you are using?

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-buttermilk.htm

←

Good point. I also keep a container of buttermilk powder on hand for certain baking purposes. It has an extremely long shelf life and works nicely in some recipes that are a bit tricky - I use it in one cake that includes quite a bit of lemon zest and the regular dairy buttermilk available today simply does not give the silky texture that I get with the powdered buttermilk.

The acid level is definitely lower in the commercial stuff than in the old-fashioned homemade type and I have had to adjust the ingredients in many of my historical recipes and usually do a small test batch before making a full-sized one.

[iii_bake]

Hi Guys,

I baked again this morning.

using this buttermilk and everything the same...except the baking soda.

I only used baking powder.

The crumbs came our very fine, as good as i used to have.

The top...still abit chewy but not that pourous.

The height, the cake hardly rose...it peaked in the middle.

I checked the Buttermilk. It is DiaryFarmers from Australia.

I search their recipes and got a cake recipe that calls for Self raising flour and still ad a bit of baking powder ( not soda) as here below:

250 ml Dairy Farmers Buttermilk

½ cup caster sugar

125 g butter

2 cups self raising flour

2 eggs

¼ cup brown sugar

825 g canned plums, drained

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp finely grated orange rind

1 tsp vanilla essence

What can be the interpretation of this?

I understand that the self raising flour already has the raising agent, and it should be the baklance between the base n acid one ( am i right?).

If the recipe calls for additional baking powder to work with the buttermilk.....

SOS

So, the buttermilk it is that flopped my cake...again, am i right?

( of course i need to fix the raising agent )

iii

[prasantrin]

I wonder if your cake flour is self-raising flour. I know you can get self-raising flour in Singapore relatively easily, so perhaps that's what you've been getting by mistake, or perhaps it's the "default" flour for cakes there.

[iii_bake]

No....

It i just a plain local Cake flour (and Softasilk US flour)

I do not use the self raising and never bought one as it is diffcult to do the adjustment for various recipes.

[andiesenji]

Hi Guys,

I baked again this morning.

using this buttermilk and everything the same...except the baking soda.

I only used baking powder.

The crumbs came our very fine, as good as i used to have.

The top...still abit chewy but not that pourous.

The height, the cake hardly rose...it peaked in the middle.

I checked the Buttermilk. It is DiaryFarmers from Australia.

I search their recipes and got a cake recipe that calls for Self raising flour and still ad a bit of baking powder ( not soda) as here below:

250 ml Dairy Farmers Buttermilk

½ cup caster sugar

125 g butter

2 cups self raising flour

2 eggs

¼ cup brown sugar

825 g canned plums, drained

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp finely grated orange rind

1 tsp vanilla essence

What can be the interpretation of this?

I understand that the self raising flour already has the raising agent, and it should be the baklance between the base n acid one ( am i right?).

If the recipe calls for additional baking powder to work with the buttermilk.....

SOS

So, the buttermilk it is that flopped my cake...again, am i right?

( of course i need to fix the raising agent  )

iii

←

Baking POWDER does not "work" with the buttermilk.

Soda, a base or alkaline product works with an acid, the buttermilk, to produce action similar to the single acting baking powder.

Usually when a recipe calls for baking powder only, one uses sweet milk.

The ratio of acid/alkaline ingredients is critical.

a good example is the use of baking soda with "natural" cocoa powder in cakes and cookies.

Natural cocoa powder is acid.

Dutched process cocoa is already treated with an alkali to neutralize the acid so one does NOT add soda to a recipe unless another acid is introduced.

[sheetz]

I went to the Dairy Farmers website and it seems like none of the buttermilk baking recipes uses baking soda. That leads me to believe it is a different variety of buttermilk than what is commonly used in the US.

[Chris Hennes]

I went to the Dairy Farmers website and it seems like none of the buttermilk baking recipes uses baking soda. That leads me to believe it is a different variety of buttermilk than what is commonly used in the US.

←

It is possible, though the idea of a buttermilk that is not at least somewhat acidic seems odd: what, exactly, makes it taste like buttermilk, then? Keep in mind that you do not have to use baking soda with buttermilk: baking powder will work fine, but it won't react with the acid in the buttermilk (which would give additional rise, but would neutralize some of the acidity: since acidity can be a good thing, flavor-wise, you don't always want to neutralize it).

[iii_bake]

This is odd, i must admit.

i have been working with baking soda invarious recipes with cocoa, banana, buttermilk...all those ingredients that need soda as a booster.

As i mentioned, i baked Flo Braker's buttermilk cake. It was very good but with the disasters i faced...i can only think of the b uttermilk n the soda now.

I will adjust the baking powder and omit the soda next time and see how it works out.

It used to be so good...texture & look & height.

Thanks again for your inputs.

Pray for me.

iii

Edited June 11, 2008 by iii_bake (log)