Baking soda needs moisture & an acid to react and create leavening. Would a cookie recipe that requires to be chilled use only baking soda as its chemical leavening agent ((no baking powder) simply to balance the acidity. In my logic all of the CO2 will be released by the time they are baking so leavening wouldn't be the purpose of baking soda in this recipe. Thanks for reading, any input will be appreciated.
Chilling a cookie dough mixed with Baking Soda
- Thread starter mylesjh
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I didn’t see this earlier otherwise I would have responded more timely.
The baking soda isn’t going to active until the cookie dough bakes. In a cake batter there’s a lot of available water. That’s not the case in a cookie dough. The sugar and flour are also both competing for the available water.
When the dough is subjected to heat.
At about 92°F the butter melts and release its water
At 212°F that water boils and becomes steam. The cookie dough begins to dry out. It’s between 92°F and 212°F where there’s enough free water to activate the baking soda and trigger the chemical reaction.
Keep in mind too acid in cookie dough isn’t in liquid form like lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, or sour cream which are common in cake batters. In cookie dough it’s in dry form, usually citrus zest or the brown sugar. So until both the water and acid becomes readily available there is not going to be a significant chemical reaction between the acid and the alkaline.