Fundamentals of Chemistry: Reflection 2: The effect of baking soda and baking powder in

cookies
St. John’s College Junior College
CHE 101: Fundamentals of Chemistry
February 16, 2023
Every now and then one might have a craving for a cupcake or cookie; however, yeast doesn't
really pair well with chocolate. We must use additional leavening techniques when baking
sweets like cookies. Mechanical leavening takes place when water vaporizes and gases expand
inside the baking dough, whereas chemical leavening depends on the reaction of additional
chemicals to produce carbon dioxide gas. You can have your biscuits in about 20 minutes rather
than 4 hours thanks to chemical leavening, which also works much more quickly than yeast.
Baking soda and baking powder are typically the two options available to bakers for chemical
leavening. Although the properties of these two leavening agents are very different, they appear
to be identical. If you browse recipes, you will discover that there are recipes for Baking soda is
typically used in cookie recipes, while baking powder is typically used in biscuit, cake, and
scones recipes. Let's take a closer look at these two materials and consider why they are each
best for specific uses.
In reality, baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, or NaHCO3. The gas that is added to the batter is
carbon dioxide, which is produced when basic bicarbonate ions react with an acid. At some point
during their childhood, most people should have combined baking soda and vinegar and seen the
foam that resulted. However, in order for the bicarbonate to react, an acid must be present. This
acid is provided by baking powder. NaHCO3 and acid salts like calcium phosphate and sodium
aluminum sulfate are the main ingredients in baking powder. These acid salts can react with the
bicarbonate ions to release carbon dioxide directly into the dough. Another advantage of using
baking powder is that some recipes use double-acting versions, which release carbon dioxide as
soon as they are dissolved in a liquid and then release even more as they are heated during
baking .You'll see that my recipes for fluffy cakes and biscuits, which call for baking powder,
include this ingredient.
Reaction of baking soda and vinegar, releasing CO2:

NaHCO3 + CH3COOH ◊ CH3COONa + H2O + CO2

However, I don't want my cookies to be light, soft, or airy when I make them. They should be
crisp and dense. Although baking soda is used in almost all cookie recipes, no acid is included
for it to react with. What good does it do to include it then? As it turns out, baking soda
significantly boosts the amount of browning that takes place during baking. More browning
results in flavors that are more complex, and that is always a good thing. All of this can be
attributed to the Maillard reactions, a group of cooking reactions that have been repeatedly
highlighted in this thesis. Amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, and sugars
undergo Maillard reactions. The proteins in flour and eggs break down and combine with sugars
in various ways while baking or cooking, creating hundreds of aromatic flavor compounds .To
give just two examples, the Maillard reactions result in the crust on bread and the browning of
meat. In fact, a basic environment is better for the Maillard reactions, which explains why adding
baking soda causes the cookies to brown more quickly.
A simple example of the type of molecules formed through the Maillard reactions:

As I already stated, the baking soda is essential for the Maillard reactions that result in brown
and delectable cookies. In my experiments, I substituted baking powder for baking soda, used
both ingredients in equal amounts, and omitted both substances entirely. In conclusion, stick to
baking soda. The original dish is flawless. The cookies had a good cakey texture when made
with baking powder, but they lacked the wonderful flavor that comes from the Maillard
reactions. Baking soda and baking powder together should have resulted in a flat, incredibly
crunchy cookie, but instead I got a cakey, brown one. The Maillard reactions did take place in
that case because the color was the same as the original recipe. The outcome was strikingly
similar to the baking powder recipe when both baking soda and baking powder were excluded
from the recipe.
Left to right: baking soda (original), baking powder, both, neither:

Original texture:
Baking powder texture:

Baking soda + Baking powder:

Neither added: