December 2, 2018 - 7:31am
Potassium carbonate solution for bagel bath?
I picked up this bottle at an asian supply store, because I want to try my hand at making ramen noodles. I got to thinking though- could this also be used as a lye substitute when boiling bagels? Specific pH or dilution isn't listed on the bottle, so I'm unsure of what ratio to experiment with. Thoughts?
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why not buy some pH Strips or better yet and electronic meter ?
Its PH is about 12. Similar to the solution of baked baking soda (Na2CO3, Sodium carbonate, washing soda, soda ash). For lye water, its PH is 13. Therefore, jian water can be used for bagel wash.
See also here
"In Chinese, the mixture of sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate is called “jian” and when mixed in water it is called jian water or “jian shui ” or “kansui”(枧水/梘水, 碱水 / 鹼水) “xue jian shui” (snow alkaline water) . Kansui sounds like the Chinese word for “soap water” so growing up, I literally thought we were eating noodles made with soap."
Nice info on this. Thank you!
but never thought of using it for bagels. Nice to know!