Cooking

[deleted-56514]

My science question is, "Can you replace baking soda for baking powder in a recipe."

[deleted-56514]

Hi, my topic is cooking. I am in 7th grade and I am just starting my science fair project and had a few questions about it. Like, what would be a good thing to measure in the experiment and is it a good project to stay with and a good project for my age, (in your opinion). I would really appreciate any answers or opinions. Thank you!

[deleted-56514]

I am so sorry!

I totally forgot to say what my actual project was. I am going to make chocolate chip cookies and replace the baking soda with baking powder and predict what will happen. Thanks again!

[deleted-71417]

Hi,

Here is a project similar to your idea, exceot it is about making muffins:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... k&from=TSW

The advantage of the project idea above is that it discusses and has resources that talk about the differences between baling powder and bakking soda, which might be useful to you.

Here is a project idea on baking refrigerated and fresh cookies. This project can give you an idea of how to judge which cookie is better, and has a cookie recipe if you need one:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ?from=Blog

If you love to cook and like cookies your project idea has a lot of potential, and could prove popular with your friends or whoever you recruit as cookie tasters. I think you can make a good project out of it if you do it right.

Before you begin you should read the Science Buddies Project Guide all the way through. It has excellent ideas and checklists on how to make your project a good one:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... l?From=Tab

Happy baking!

Best regards,

Barrett L Tomlinson

[deleted-56514]

So do you think it would be more interesring and better if I did the muffin experiment instead of the chocolate chip cookies?

[deleted-71827]

Hello!
Either experiment would be great! I would say that if you feel comfortable doing the chocolate chip cookies project with a little more creativity on your part, choose that one. If you want to have a little more background on the project, you might benefit from following the step-by-step ScienceBuddies guide project on the muffins. As always, it is your choice to choose which one you like best! Have fun!

[deleted-56514]

I am in 7th grade and i am just starting my science fair project.......wondering a few things. I posted another thing asking about my science fair experiment that was "Can baking powder substitute for baking soda in my chocolate chip cookies recipe?", and it requeted that I do muffins instead of that. I was wondering if that is a good project to do or should I stick with the cookies? Also, what makes the muffins experiment so much better?

[deleted-56514]

I think I could make more of a interesting and more detailed project if I choose the muffin one because of the helpful comments and science budies has a guideline for it. So I think I feel more comfortable doing the muffin one. I only have one question though.......my teacher said that I need to have something for my hypothesis that I can measure, like I predict that the diameter will be longer if I replace baking soda with baking powder, or, the height will be shorter. Any suggestions on what to measure?

[deleted-71827]

Hi again!
I think that predicting whether or not the diameter increases when you replace baking soda with baking powder would be a great hypothesis! Don't forget to check the ScienceBuddies guide as well, best of luck!

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... esis.shtml

[deleted-56514]

Okay thanks......any other suggestions?

[deleted-71827]

Hi!
You might also want to think about perhaps measuring baking time for muffins depending on whether you use baking powder or baking soda!

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

I think you are thinking about doing this project:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p008.shtml

This is a great introduction to the chemistry of cooking and to chemistry in general. The project suggests doing muffins, but there is no reason that you could not substitute chocolate chip cookies. You will need to understand the difference in the chemistry of baking soda and baking powder and you will also need to know the chemistry of chocolate chip cookie dough.

Here's a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that you could use:

http://ncwsnc.cheminst.ca/experiments/echocochip.html

And here is more information on the general chemistry of chocolate chip cookies:

http://www.underthemicroscope.com/blog/ ... -chemistry

You will need to become an expert in chemistry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

Also, since this is a science project, you should check out the guide for doing a science project.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml

What is your hypothesis? What is your independent and dependent variables? How are you going to measure your results?

I hope this helps! Let us know if you have any questions.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-56514]

Hi,
I think that is a great idea, thank you I really appriciate your honesty and support.

[deleted-56514]

Hello!

I'm confused between what my hypothesis should be........I'm debating wether it should be the muffin will not rise as high of the muffin will take longer to cook. What is your opinion.

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

One really nice thing about doing science fair projects is that you don't have to just guess what will happen. You read all of your background information, make sure you understand the science behind the project, and then you can make an educated guess about what will happen. This is your hypothesis. For this project, I had thought that you were going to compare baking powder with baking soda in chocolate chip cookies. If you do this, you will not vary the cooking time, temperature, ingredients, viscosity of the cookie dough, the baking pan, or the time interval between mixing the dough and baking the cookies. These are your controlled parameters. Chocolate chip cookies are usually made with baking soda, so a standard recipe will be your control and any change in the leavening agent (baking soda or baking powder) will be your independent variable. The dependent variable is the results, which you will measure with some sort of metric measurement, like centimeters. Preferably, you will plan to conduct your experiment at least twice, and you will record your experiments and results meticulously in a lab notebook.

Varying the cooking time or doing muffins would be different science projects, but hopefully this will give you idea about what you need to do.

Baking soda reacts with the acid in the cookie dough and releases the carbon dioxide immediately; baking powder has its own acid releases the carbon dioxide when the product is exposed to heat. Carbon dioxide that is trapped in the dough expands in the oven and causes cookies to rise. So which source of carbon dioxide do you think work best?

Since using baking power will add acid as well as a different source of carbon dioxide to the recipe, I recommend that you add a taste panel to your experiment. You can have selected family members and friends rate the taste of your final product. This information will complement your quantitative data.


Donna Hardy

[deleted-56514]

I am still a little confused though...........not to be rude or anything, but you still didn't fully answer my question. Like I said, it's my first time doing the science fair so I'm getting confused easily and i'm not quite sure what to do still. I just want an answer to this, do you think that my hypothesis should be the muffin will not rise at all from when i put them in till i take them out, or should i say that the muffins will take longer to cook? YOUR OPINION. I am also FOR SURE doing the muffin experiment. No cookies any more........I have got requests and thing that i will get more data doing the muffin one. Sorry if i sound rude.....I hope i don't.

[deleted-56514]

I hope i am not to rude on this, but that still didn't answer my question......I just want to know if my hypothesis should be the muffins will not rise at all between the time when i put them in till the time i take them out or if it should be they will take longer to cook. Like i said, i am only in 7th grade and this is my first year doing the science fair so i am getting easily confused. And i know what a hypothesis is and i am sticking with the muffin idea and no cookies anymore!!!! Sorry if i was rude but all i wanted was an answer......i hope i wasnt to much...

[deleted-56514]

Hi,

My name is Cailee Stahl and i am in 7th grade and i am doing the science fair this year for the very first time ever. I really need help on my hypothesis. I was going to do my hypothesis as this, "I think that if i substitute baking soda for baking powder in my blueberry muffin recipe, then it will take a longer amount of time to cook because the recipe is not used to having that certain ingrediant so therfore it will take longer to cook." But people started to say that baking powder is what makes the muffins rise so i began to think that i should change my hypothesis to, "If i substitute baking soda for baking powder in my blueberry muffin recipe then it will not rise at all between the time when i put the muffins in the recipe till i take them out." I am not sure which one to do. Do you know which one i will collect more data on? I need your opinion........please help. By the way, my science question is, "Can i substitute baking soda for baking powder in my blueberry muffin recipe?"

[deleted-56514]

By the way....I absoluty posotivtly NEED ANSWERS BY TONIGHT

[deleted-56514]

Also i am having difficulties finding a catchy title for my project....any ideas? Please.......I need your opinion now!

[deleted-71929]

Hi there,

Both baking powder and baking soda contain soduim bicarbonate which produce CO2. Baking soda will become unstable at higher temperatures and longer baking times. You could use either of your hypotheses and record the results. However, the main difference between baking soda and baking powder is one will cause the batter to rise and the other to fall. So you will have a clearer outcome testing the rise of the batter versus a longer baking time. But as Donna said earlier after you research your topic you can make an educated guess to formulate the best hypothesis for your science project.

Hope this helps

[donnahardy2]

Hi Cailee,

You should be careful to always reply in the same thread so that everyone who is helping you is notified when you have posted a reply. It looks like the moderator has put all of your replies together so we have finally received your messages.

It sounds like you have decided on a muffin project and you are planning to compare baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate, and monocalcium phosphate). This is a chemistry project so you need to understand the chemistry behind the project so you make a reasonable hypothesis. The sodium bicarbonate in the baking powder and the baking soda is the source of carbon dioxide that causes muffins to rise. The carbon dioxide is released as a gas when the bicarbonate is mixed with acid (hydrogen ions). Try mixing some baking soda with some vinegar and look for the bubbles of carbon dioxide that form. This chemical reaction is the basis of your project.

Since this is your first science project, I’ll try to give you some more information to help lead you through the process of making a hypothesis. Baking soda will only release carbon dioxide if there are ingredients in the muffin recipe that have a low pH/ contain hydrogen ions/ are acidic. Here is some information on pH. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH

Common muffin ingredients like bananas and buttermilk are acidic and will react with sodium bicarbonate to release carbon dioxide. Does you favorite muffin recipe contain any acidic ingredients? You may need to do more background research to answer this question. If you have trouble, please post the recipe you are planning to use.

Sodium aluminum sulfate and mono calcium phosphate are acidic compounds that will release hydrogen ions when mixed with water and this reacts with the sodium bicarbonate in the baking powder. So baking powder will allow muffins to rise even if there are no acidic ingredients in the recipe.

Another difference in the ingredients: the acid in double acting baking powder is released when the muffins are exposed to heat while the carbon dioxide is released from sodium bicarbonate immediately after it is exposed to acid.

The next step in your project is to state your project in the form of a question that can be answered by a controlled experiment. Your hypothesis would be your guess of what will happen based on your new knowledge of muffin chemistry. Please read the project guides that Barrett and I posted and then post the question that you want to answer with your project. Please reply in the same topic so all of us will receive your reply and we’ll answer just as soon as we can.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-71940]

Hello!

This sounds like a great project to test!

To answer your question, you could conceivably test either hypothesis, but I think that comparing the height of the muffins after a set cook time will be the easiest, and most quantitative approach. This is because determining cook time will be rather difficult, and if you do not have preset standards of what the properties of a sufficiently cooked muffin are, it will be hard to objectively differentiate between a cooked and an uncooked muffin. So I think that it would be the best for you to test the effect that the change in ingredient has on the height of a cooked muffin. However, if you really want to look at the effects that the substitution in ingredient has on cook time, that's great too.

Whichever hypothesis you choose to test, make sure to run multiple trials and try and keep other experimental factors (like the recipe) constant.

Hope this helps,
Nithin T.

[deleted-56514]

That really helped........I found a somewhat catchy title for my project. It is, "Can baking soda really act like baking powder?" Is that a good title or not. Also, do you have any suggestions for a catchy title? Let me know Please.

[deleted-56514]

Okay that helped. Thanks! So now have got my hypothesis, question, and procedure. Do i start testing my experiment? Or am i ready?

[donnahardy2]

Hi Cailee,

I think you are ready to start, but here are some questions to think about. What is your question and hypothesis? Did you write a list of materials? Is your protocol very detailed? Have you thought through the details of the experiment? You will want to purchase enough of the ingredients so that you will be able to complete the project using the same batch of each ingredient. When you are doing your experiment, you will need to make sure you follow your written protocol precisely. You will need to repeat the experiment at least twice to verify results.

How are you going to measure results? I assume you will measure the height of the muffins so you will need a ruler that will measure in centimeters because science fair project results should always be reported using metric measurements. Also, how are you going to make sure you put the same amount of muffin batter in each muffin cup? One good way to do this would be to weigh the sample, but you could also probably use a container to measure a fairly consistent volume of batter.

How much chemistry have you had? It would be good to calculate the moles of carbon dioxide that could be produced by the baking soda and baking powder that you are adding to each batch of muffins. You would need to find out the ratio of ingredients in the baking powder. The idea would be that if you added the same number of molecules of carbonate to two batches of muffins, you should be able to directly compare the difference between baking soda and baking powder. Please let me know what quantity of baking powder and baking soda you are planning to use, and I will send additional explanation.

Donna Hardy

[donnahardy2]

Hi Cailee,

Your title is very good for a science project because it asked the question you are going to answer in your experiment.

What is your blueberry muffin recipe? Does it contain any other sources of carbonate other than the baking soda or baking powder that will be added? What is the pH of the blueberry muffin batter? Are any other ingredients a possible source of acid that can combine with carbonate to form carbon dioxide? Do you know why I am asking about pH of the muffin batter? How would you measure this?

Donna Hard

[deleted-56514]

Thank you!

My recipe is this......

1 and 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tps. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cuop cooking oil
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Temp. at 400 degrees
makes 10-12 muffins

[deleted-71712]

Cailee,

I merged your two topics into a single thread, and it would be great if you kept all your posts on this project here -- it's best if anyone who tries to help you can see the whole conversation together.

Amanda

[donnahardy2]

Hi Cailee,

Thanks for posting your recipe. Here is some more background information for you:

For your project, the important thing to note is the pH of your liquid ingredients. Milk has a pH of about 6.5 and eggs have a pH of 8. So when you mix these ingredients together the pH is going to be close to 7 (neutral). This means that there won’t be any extra hydrogen ions available to react with the baking soda. The baking powder contains dry acid (hydrogen ions) that will react with the carbonate ions and produce carbon dioxide when it is wetted and more carbon dioxide when it is heated. Here is a wonderful cooking website that includes the chemical reactions for the production of carbon dioxide (CO2) with baking powder. You should plan to use these equations in your project write up, but make sure you understand them first.

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools- ... powder.htm

If there are no hydrogen ions available, the baking soda will not produce any carbon dioxide bubbles. You can do a quick experiment to confirm this by mixing a small amount of egg, milk, and baking soda together and look for bubbles. Then add some hydrogen ions (vinegar, for example) and look for bubbles again.

It is possible to add dry acid to baking soda to make a homemade baking powder. Here is a recipe that uses cream of tartar (tartaric acid) as the acid.

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/condim ... Powder.htm

Other acidic ingredients that could be used as a source of hydrogen ions are buttermilk, smashed banana, vinegar and lemon juice. Can you think of anything else?

Here are websites that include the chemical reaction of baking soda and hydrogen ions to produce carbon dioxide.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/c ... m00303.htm

http://users.rcn.com/sue.interport/food/bakgsoda.html

It’s interesting that you are making blueberry muffins for this project. Blueberries have a very low pH of 2.1 to 2.7 so could be a source of hydrogen ions to react with the baking soda. Normally, blueberries are added at the last step in a recipe and great care is taken not to damage the blueberries. If the blueberries remain whole, the hydrogen ions they contain would not be available to react with the baking soda. However, if you pureed them and added them with the milk and eggs, the hydrogen ions would come in contact with the carbonate ions in the baking soda and would release carbon dioxide.



According to the websites I have checked, baking powder contains about 25% sodium bicarbonate, so you should use ¼ tsp of baking soda for every 1 tsp of baking powder in the recipe to obtain the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide potential.


Here is a website that explains pH. Do you have a way to measure the pH of your muffin batter? This information would help in your discussion section.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH

Do you have access to a scale that will weigh to the closest 0.01 gram at school? If you do, weigh a tsp of baking powder and a tsp of baking soda and let me know the results. I will show you how to calculate the moles of carbon dioxide that could be produced in one recipe.

Donna Hardy