Put baking soda in steamed bread. What is the function of baking soda?

Put baking soda in steamed bread. What is the function of baking soda? Is baking soda or alkali better in steamed bread? If steamed bread wants to have a fluffy and soft taste, it must be puffed. The principle of expansion is actually very simple, that is, it uses the principles of vaporization and air expansion and contraction in physics. Let's talk about vaporization first. Vaporization mainly refers to the vaporization of water, that is, water becomes steam after being heated at high temperature, and its volume will increase rapidly, which can generate enough power to expand our steamed bread. The other is the principle that gas expands with heat and contracts with cold. We all know that gases expand when heated. The gases in steamed bread are mainly air and carbon dioxide. When steamed at high temperature, countless small bubbles in steamed bread will expand, and protein and starch in steamed bread will solidify to form a frame after being heated at high temperature. This is the reason why steamed bread will not collapse after cooling.

Knowing the principle, let's take a look. What are the ways to make steamed bread swell? The first method, chemical expansion method, is to add some chemical additives to the dough, and use the chemical reaction after heating to generate carbon dioxide and expand it, so that the product has a fluffy taste. The additives used are called "leavening agents", such as baking soda and baking powder. Method 2: Biological fermentation, mainly refers to yeast fermentation. It also has two situations. The first is the dough fermented by yeast. Yeast can produce alcohol, carbon dioxide and water by decomposing sugar in dough. When flour and water are kneaded by us, a lot of tough gluten tissue (a kind of protein) will be formed, which is sticky and elastic and can wrap the carbon dioxide produced by yeast until the steamed bread is cooked.

Small bubbles formed by carbon dioxide in dough can expand rapidly when heated, while alcohol and water will vaporize to form gas when heated, so the taste of steamed bread is fluffy and soft. When the gluten tissue and starch solidify, a stronger skeleton can be formed to support a larger steamed bread. The second is flour fertilizer fermentation, that is, old flour fermentation. This fermentation method must use edible alkali and use the principle of acid-base neutralization to neutralize sour taste. The answer to the question here comes out. As a staple food, it is better to eat less chemical additives every day, so baking soda is not a good choice, and home-cooked steamed bread rarely uses old noodles, so yeast is enough without alkali. I will steam steamed buns for my children myself, and the effect of using yeast only is very good.