Citric Acid uses

[andiesenji]

ambra posted the following in the Low-iodine diet topic:

"I thought you could use [citric acid] to help out your sourdough starter as well. I remember reading that somewhere."

Rather than answer in that topic, I thought I would start a new one related to this interesting ingredient.

Citric acid is also known as sour salt and is always found in the Kosher section in most supermarkets. (Unless the market is in an ethnic area, it won't be with the regular salt and/or spices.)

It is indeed useful in sourdough baking but also in regular yeast baking.

It also has been used in non-yeast baking as noted in this link, which I came across some months ago (while hunting for low-sodium recipes) and have been using the citric acid as indicated.

http://users.tpg.com.au/pschamb/baking.html

King Arthur flour includes it in a sourdough recipe:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/extra-tangy-sourdough-bread-recipe

There are several sites with traditional Jewish recipes that specify sour salt or citric acid. Here's one: http://www.foodista.com/recipes/KVCMQCKR/sour-salt

I bake a lot of yeast breads with whole grain flours and also with whole grains, nuts and fruit.

These are often a bit on the heavy side (dense crumb) and while there are commercial "dough conditioners" I haven't had such good results with them.

I add my own "conditioning" ingredients - can't recall where I got the "formula" but it is (per standard bread loaf recipe)

Liquid lecithin added to the water - 3/4 teaspoon.

and added to the dry ingredients:

Vital wheat gluten 3 tablespoons (If using "strong" wheat flour I use 2 tablespoons.)

Citric acid 1/4 teaspoon.

And of course I use a heaping teaspoon per quart of water for acidulated water for bathing fruits and vegetables to keep them from turning brown.

I have used part citric acid in some of my pickle recipes - when pickling peaches for instance - otherwise they are just too sweet.

I have it in a shaker for sprinkling over sliced eggplant - instead of salt as I am trying to cut more salt from my diet. I rinse it off before cooking.

A pinch in a dish that seems rather insipid helps a lot.

If you keep it handy, you will find you use it more.

Does anyone else have ideas for its use?

Edited February 12, 2010 by andiesenji (log)

[Darienne]

I use citric acid when making hard tack lollipops to give them a sour/tart flavor.

[IndyRob]

Cheese making.

Edited February 13, 2010 by IndyRob (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I use it a lot in chocolate fillings and candy making - but originally had it in the house, along with tartaric acid - in order to make my grandmothers recipe for lemonade. More like a lemon concentrate to which you add water or soda.

[andiesenji]

Great replies.

I forgot to mention cheesemaking. I do use it for that and for sour cream.

Some pie fillings are way too sweet for my taste and I have found that a pinch or up to 1/4 teaspoon produces a more complex flavor and no one ever guesses what I have added.

(Pecan pie filling, for instance, is just too cloyingly sweet for me. Coconut and banana cream pies, ditto, and also others with caramel based fillings.)

I also forgot to mention that I include it - near the finish of cooking and adding only a tiny bit at a time, until I reach the flavor I want - in a goat-meat based chili.

The original recipe called for "reduced" lemon juice and because not all lemons are equal, (and one time I forgot to buy them) I began using the citric acid. It makes a huge difference.

[mgaretz]

The secret ingredient in sweet and sour recipes when you don't want a citrus or vinegar note. I use it in my Sweet and Sour Cabbage Borscht recipe.

[Lior]

I use it to clean the calcium residue -lime? from my kettle. Works like magic!

[beef_and_burgundy]

I'm about to start playing round with it in order to attempt to make dairy-free sour cream. My partner is allergic to dairy and sour cream is something I find especially difficult to substitute (for sweet dishes in particular). Oat cream is probably going to be the base from which I'll start. If any one has had any success with something similar, I'd love to hear about it.

[dougal]

I use it to clean the calcium residue -lime? from my kettle. Works like magic!

Its the primary ingredient of many commercial descaler products.

But simple Citric Acid (and a drop of detergent) works very well, at a fraction of the cost.

And its even better than vinegar at removing any dull limescale film preventing your glassware from shining.

However, Citric Acid is not absolutely easily available in the UK, because it has a use of some sort in unofficial pharmaceutical processing. In Sainsbury's supermarket, for example, its not on display and one must ask for it at the pharmacy counter, where they will only sell you a single 50 gram packet at a time.

Its a useful way of adding acidity, whether to activate pectin in jam and jelly making, or in home winemaking.

But adding it to make a sourdough loaf more sour? Isn't that cheating?

[Tri2Cook]

I keep several acids on hand (citric, malic, ascorbic, succinic, tartaric, lactic), most of which I mainly use as balancing agents. If you know or can find the acid profile of an ingredient, you can restore a lot of it's fresh flavor after processing/cooking with acid solutions.

[Lior]

Tri2Cook! Can you direct me to an information source on this-I find it very interesting. I am not sure where to get all the acids besides citric, which is easy. I would like to know more about balancing tastes with it and restoring fresh flavor. Kerry, I assume you use it to balance off sweetness? Like in marshmellows or caramel? But also in a ganache? Would that be a fruit ganache?

Totally interesting!

[mgaretz]

Lior and Dougal,

Try shops that sell home winemaking (and/or beermaking) supplies.

[Lior]

I will look for something like that. Thank you.

[andiesenji]

I made a batch of mayonnaise this morning and yet again I got rather mild lemons and I really didn't want to add more lemon juice because the consistency was exactly the way I wanted it. I added just a pinch of citric acid and the flavor improved exponentially.

I may just incorporate this ingredient in the batch of aioli I will be preparing later today.

[scubadoo97]

It's a great sub for lemon juice but I use it mainly for descale my coffee maker and espresso machine

[andiesenji]

Last night I made a batch of lemon/orange/grapefruit lakhoum or Turkish delighthttp://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/128498-turkish-delight-or-lakhoum/page__p__1697130__fromsearch__1entry1697130

I didn't want to use cornstarch to coat the outside because my daughter and grandchildren have an allergy to corn.

I blitzed 1/4 cup of granulated sugar with a scant 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid and the result was a powdered coating that had a bit of "pucker-power" and was a complement to that flavor of lakhoum.

It reminded me of the coating on the old-fashioned lemon drops that had a rather rough coating - abraded the roof of the mouth if too many were consumed quickly.

More possibilities are ranging about in my brain - I have a few packages of Jello which need to be used up...........

[Lior]

how about freeze dried fruit powders? Or lemon powder?

[ChefCrash]

We use it in spinach pies instead of lemon juice. Keeps them from getting soggy.

Helps freshly pickled olives retain bright green color.

[andiesenji]

how about freeze dried fruit powders? Or lemon powder?

Do you mean mix them with citric acid?

I woke up with another idea this morning, using them to dust homemade marshmallows - obviously not the ones intended to go into cocoa - but ones intended for other applications - I like to make them but their uses are limited.

I have some little duck molds and thought I might try making some for Easter and mixing a little citric acid with some of the colored sugars I got from Kitchen Krafts and coating them with this.

Just a thought........

[mgaretz]

I blitzed 1/4 cup of granulated sugar with a scant 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid and the result was a powdered coating that had a bit of "pucker-power" and was a complement to that flavor of lakhoum.

It reminded me of the coating on the old-fashioned lemon drops that had a rather rough coating - abraded the roof of the mouth if too many were consumed quickly.

Those gummy candies with the sour crystalline coating - yep, the coating is citric acid.

[lesliec]

I use citric acid in a mix with baking soda and caster sugar (1:1.5:1) to add fizz to my gin and tonic jellies. Best bet is to make the fizz mix in a separate small bowl or dish and have guests sprinkle a pinch or two themselves. And only make it just before you need it; it's VERY thirsty (I had to re-make a batch at the last minute a couple of weeks ago because it had got soggy and solid).

Dougal - you mention citric acid is better than vinegar for 'de-clouding' wine glasses. What sort of concentration would you recommend?

[dougal]

...

Dougal - you mention citric acid is better than vinegar for 'de-clouding' wine glasses. What sort of concentration would you recommend?

I don't think anything will help with glass that has been etched in a dishwasher.

But where the problem is limescale - as often with flower vases and water jugs in this hard water area - a teaspoonful of citric acid in a washing-up bowl of warm water with a big drop of detergent, seems to soak away much more limescale (and faster) than the more traditional good pour of vinegar!

[Starkman]

Shirley Corriher in "Cookwise" (pg 11) says that vitamin C helps gluten development and produces lighter breads. She says she frequently adds a piece of crushed vitamin C tablet to her bread dough.

Starkman

Edited February 19, 2010 by Starkman (log)

[dougal]

Shirley Corriher in "Cookwise" (pg 11) says that vitamin C helps gluten development and produces lighter breads. She says she frequently adds a piece of crushed vitamin C tablet to her bread dough.

A minute touch of Vitamin C certainly does no harm at all to bread.

I think it principally acts by preventing (or at least reducing) gluten breakdown by glutathione.

There are other benefits too, like combating water chlorination treatment's effect on sourdough cultures.

Its good stuff.

But Vitamin C is not Citric Acid. It is Ascorbic Acid. (Sometimes in the form of its salt, ascorbate.)

[Anna N]

Shirley Corriher in "Cookwise" (pg 11) says that vitamin C helps gluten development and produces lighter breads. She says she frequently adds a piece of crushed vitamin C tablet to her bread dough.

A minute touch of Vitamin C certainly does no harm at all to bread.

I think it principally acts by preventing (or at least reducing) gluten breakdown by glutathione.

There are other benefits too, like combating water chlorination treatment's effect on sourdough cultures.

Its good stuff.

But Vitamin C is not Citric Acid. It is Ascorbic Acid. (Sometimes in the form of its salt, ascorbate.)

Thanks - I was certainly starting to question my own knowledge that Vitamin C and Citric Acid were NOT the same thing. But now I am curious - what effect might be found in bread dough (not necessarily sourdough) if one used BOTH of these additions.