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SCIENCE
Suppression of baking powder in a pound cake using an overpressure strategy © Igor Normann – stock.adobe.com
Baking soda or baking powder is the most common carbon dioxide (CO2) source. It is used to produce aerated cakes, for example. This article proposes an alternative to the use of baking powder by using the mixing of the batter under CO2 pressure.
by Juliette Palier, Catherine Loisel, Luc Guihard, Cécile Rannou,
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Alain Le-Bail and Patricia Le-Bail
Baking powder is usually made of a blend of an alkaline agent that generates CO2 and of an acidic counterpart to neutralize the alkaline agent. The neutralization yields the release of CO2 mainly during baking. The removal of baking powder seems to be a ‘hot topic’ for the baking industry, driven by the trend to reduce certain ingredients, including sodium chloride (clean label).
A prototype mixer was used with air and CO2 applied with gauge pressures of 0.3 and 0.5 bar. CO2 pressure-mixing yielded the best results regarding cake-specific volume (2.5 mL/g or 86% of the specific volume of the reference cake with baking powder) compared to air pressure. This result was explained by the solubilization of CO2 in the liquid phase of the batter during mixing and its release during baking.
1. Introduction Fine bakery wares such as cakes can be considered as solid foams due to their alveolar structure. Their porosity is achieved through the solidification of the batter during baking thanks to the batter to crumb transition (Mizukoshi et al., 1979). During mixing, air is incorporated as bubbles into the batter thanks to the rotation of the tool during mixing. The bubbles will further expand during baking thanks to (i) expansion of gases, (ii) vaporization of water and eventually release of CO2 produced by a leavening agent such as baking powder (BP), resulting in an aerated structure.
www.bakingbiscuit.com 03/2022
BP releases carbon dioxide (CO 2) during the mixing and baking process; it is made of two components, an alkaline component, which is usually sodium bicarbonate and an acidic component usually made of sodium pyrophosphate. The acidic component neutralizes the alkaline component resulting in the release of CO2. BP acts usually at two stages, with a double action; CO 2 is first released during mixing thanks to partial neutralization of sodium bicarbonate, which contributes to the stabilization of the gas nuclei embedded in the batter during mixing. In the second stage, the neutralization is finalized due to the full availability of the acidic component. Mixing the batter while applying an overpressure in the headspace of the mixer can be considered as an alternative to BP; the use of CO2 is relevant since the solubilization of this gas can be expected during mixing. This strategy has been mainly investigated in the case of bread dough (Chin & al., 2004; Chin & Campbell, 2005a, 2005b; Martin & al., 2004a; Sadot & al., 2017; Trinh & al., 2013), cookie dough (Brijwani & al., 2008) and in cake or sponge cake batter (Massey & al., 2001; Palier & al., 2022). This study aimed to show the impact of the replacement of the BP by a process of mixing under pressure, on certain properties of the cake and, in particular, the sensory experience.
2. Materials and methods 2.1. Materials The ingredients used in the preparation of batter were wheat flour (15.2% water content, 10.5% protein, 1.3% fat, 68.1% starch and 0.4% ash on wb; Giraudineau, France), whole liquid egg (77.5% water content, 0.8% minerals, 12.1% protein, 10.2% fat and 0.8% carbohydrates on wb; Transgourmet,
