Will cookies bake the same if baking powder is used instead of baking soda? This is an interesting question because if baking powder can replace baking soda, it eliminates the need for both items. It also raises the question regarding if these two ingredients are different. If they are, what different effects will they have on cookies? The hypothesis for this experiment is, if baking powder is used instead of baking soda, then the cookies will not rise.
There are several new terms being used in this report. The word leaven means to cause bread or dough to rise. Sodium bicarbonate, another name for baking soda, is a soluble white powder used as a leavening agent in baking. Decomposition is a process in which a chemical compound is broken down into simpler matter. Leavening agents are substances that, through the release of gases, cause doughs and batters to rise. Alkaline means that a substance has the opposite effect of an acid. Baking soda is a white alkaline powder. It contains one ingredient, sodium bicarbonate, a base that reacts by releasing carbon dioxide in the form of bubbles when it comes in contact with acids, such as buttermilk, coffee, and brown sugar. Baking soda is made from sodium
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This made me reconsider my original hypothesis that if baking powder is used instead of baking soda, the cookies will not rise. My new hypothesis is that if baking powder is used instead of baking soda, the cookies will continue to rise for an extended period of time and therefore be thicker than the baking soda cookies. I do expect to encounter some problems with this experiment. One problem is that the cookies in each batch could be different sizes, so they would need to bake for different amounts of time. I will try to avoid this problem by using a measuring spoon to scoop out the cookie dough, so each cookie is the same