February 13, 2009 - 6:24am
Baking Soda and the Sourdough
Baking Soda...do you guys use it when creating a SD bread? If so, when is the baking soda added to the mix? For once it comes into contact with moisture the reaction takes place. Also, is there any need to add soda to a SD bread?
I had been making SD breads for a few years andnever used soda in any of them. Reason I ask the question is because I found an old book and in it were listed the notion that soda was to be added to SD breads...to give it a 'better' rise.
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Uriel, I have heard that some sourdough recipes (especially older ones) call for baking soda, but I have never followed such a recipe. Nor have I ever used baking soda in my sourdough breads.
I read in one book that baking soda in sourdough will neutralize the sour taste, but recently I too asked here what purpose baking soda would serve. There's an oatmeal sourdough bread I make from Bernard Clayton's book that has baking soda in it, and I find that bread a little dry and crumbly. Could it be the baking soda? I still don't know.
There is baking soda in the Sourdough English Muffin bread I make. You mix the starter, flour, water and salt and let it rise for a couple hours. You then mix 1/4 t baking soda in 2T of water and mix that in. The dough (it's really like batter) is then panned and has a final proof. I don't think the tang is affected. The bread is not dry or crumbly. Actually it is moist. I don't know the mystery of the baking soda.
Betty