No it's not the baking soda,it's the powder, I just finished eating pancakes and every time I used baking powder I got that bitter tasteIf you’re experiencing a bitter taste from the leavening it is baking soda not baking powder. Baking powder is mixed with acids to activate, so the acids will neutralizes the sodium bicarbonate in baking powder.
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. It requires an acid to activate, which in turn neutralizes it. If you are adding baking soda to your batters and there is no acid, and the baking soda is not properly blended into the flour, you will end up with a terrible bitter taste.
So here's a couple of general rules on chemical leavening.
1. Baking powder, no acid required.
2. Baking soda, acid require. So in a pancake recipe you’re going to need something like buttermilk if you are using baking soda. In banana bread, you’ll need something like yogurt or kifer to activate the baking soda.
3. One or the other. Both chemical leavening agents are not required. There are many cake recipes that call for both but one or the other will work fine.
4. Baking powder:
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder for up to 1 1/2 cup flour.
- If your recipe also contains at least 1 cup of sugar or fat, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour. So if your pancakes recipe is 2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup butter, then add 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.
5. Baking soda: use 1/4 the amount
- 1/4 teaspoon per cup of flour
- requires an acid to neutralize it or you will get a bitter taste.
6. Examples of acids used to neutralize baking soda:
- buttermilk
- sour cream
- yogurt
- kifer
- brown sugar
- molasses
7. Sift your dry ingredients at least two times. People think sifting is some antiquated, unnecessary, waste of time. Sifting is absolutely necessary to disperse the leavening evenly throughout the flour. Sift, not once but twice. I in fact sift three times, especially when it comes to cake.
Look at your recipes.
Are you using baking powder or baking soda or both?
How much are you using?
Is the amount of leavening within the general guidelines or are you using more than you need?
If using baking soda is there an acid to neutralize it?
Are you sifting?
It's to only be in the center of the pancakes and I get that in Biscuit dough to and I use buttermilk in both recipes and the same results
Going to stope using baking powder all together