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Abstract If you like to bake, this could be a good project for you! Have you ever wondered about the purpose of each of the ingredients in your favorite recipes? Here's a scientific method for finding out what the separate ingredients do!Objective The goal of this project is to see how the varying the amount of baking powder in a muffin recipe affects the outcome of the final product. Introduction Warm muffins fresh from the oven are a great treat for a weekend breakfast. Making muffins (or other baked goods) can also be a fun way to learn some kitchen chemistry. It's interesting to see how the goopy batter gets tranformed in the oven into a perfect, miniature cake with a golden brown top. In this project you'll learn about what goes into a muffin to give it a nice, fluffy texture. If you examine the texture of a muffin (or a biscuit, pancake, waffle, or slice of bread), you'll see that the basic structure is a random sort of meshwork that surrounds air spaces of various sizes. Without the air spaces, the end result would much more closely resemble a brick than bread. The air spaces are the result of bubbles of gas (mostly carbon dioxide) that are produced within the batter during the baking process. Ingredients that produce these bubbles are called leavening agents. Muffins are an example of what bakers call a "quick bread" because, unlike a traditional bread dough, there is no yeast used in the recipe and no need to wait hours for the bread dough to rise. In a quick bread, the leavening agent is usually baking powder. Baking powder is a dry mixture that typically contains corn starch (as a filler and to keep the ingredients dry), sodium bicarbonate (a base, also known as 'baking soda'), sodium aluminum sulfate (an acid), and monocalcium phosphate (another acid). When baking powder dissolves in the liquid ingredients in your recipe, the basic component (sodium bicarbonate) can then react with the acidic components (sodium aluminum sulfate and monocalcium phosphate). One of the products of this chemical reaction is carbon dioxide gas, which provides the leavening for the baked product. As the batter is baked, the carbon dioxide produced by the baking powder makes bubbles in the batter. The bubbles are trapped by the surrounding structure of the batter, mainly supported by proteins in the flour and eggs. You may notice that some baking powders (like the one described above) are called "double-acting." This is because one of the acidic components (sodium aluminum sulfate) reacts more slowly with the sodium bicarbonate. The reaction of sodium bicarbonate with the other acidic component of baking powder, monocalcium phosphate, is faster. The idea behind double-acting baking powder is that a greater proportion of the baking powder reaction (and hence carbon dioxide production) will happen during baking in the oven, rather than while you are still stirring the batter. In theory, this should mean more air spaces in the final baked product (i.e., higher rising, fluffier baked goods) with double-acting baking powder than with single-acting baking powder. (See the Variations section for a related experimental suggestion.) If you get interested and learn more about baking, you'll find that there are several different kinds of leavening agents. For example, most regular bread doughs use yeast as the leavening agent. Yeast are single-celled organisms that consume some of the carbohydrates in bread dough and produce carbon dioxide gas as a byproduct. (To learn more about yeast, see the Science Buddies projects: Yeasty Beasties and An Aerobic Exercise: Yeast Metabolism with and without Aeration.) Some cakes (for example genoise-style cakes) get their spongy texture from the air spaces in whipped egg foam. The air bubbles expand as the air warms when the cake is baked. These types of cakes require a little more care with preparation technique in order not to lose the initial volume of the whipped egg foam when adding it to the other ingredients. It just goes to show you that a little science can even help you out in the kitchen. When you're trying something new, is always best to start out simple, though, so muffins are a good way to go. If you compare several different muffin recipes, you will probably find that many of the ingredients are the same across the different recipes. However, you will probably also find that the amounts for the various ingredients differ slightly from one recipe to the next. The goal of this experiment is to find out what happens to the muffins when the amount of baking powder used in the recipe changes. Terms, Concepts, and Questions to Start Background Research To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:
Questions
Bibliography
Materials and Equipment To do this experiment you will need the following materials and equipment:
Experimental Procedure
Variations
Credits Andrew Olson, Ph.D., Science Buddies
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Chemical Technician The role that the chemical technician plays is the backbone of every chemical, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical manufacturing operation. Chemical technicians conduct experiments, record data, and help to implement new processes and procedures in the laboratory. If you enjoy hands-on work, then you might be interested in the career of a chemical technician. |
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Food Scientist or Technologist There is a fraction of the world's population that doesn't have enough to eat or doesn't have access to food that is nutritionally rich. Food scientists or technologists work to find new sources of food that have the right nutrition levels and that are safe for human consumption. In fact, our nation's food supply depends on food scientists and technologists that test and develop foods that meet and exceed government food safety standards. If you are interested in combining biology, chemistry, and the knowledge that you are helping people, then a career as a food scientist or technologist could be a great choice for you! | |
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