Mention the materials used in Spider Corn Bread to make it light. Explain their action.
Explain why satisfactory results could not be obtained by using 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of baking soda in this Spider Corn Bread recipe.
What is the price per half-pound of baking soda?
How many persons does this Spider Corn Bread recipe serve?
LESSON CXI
LEAVENING WITH BAKING SODA, SOUR MILK, AND MOLASSES: GINGERBREAD
EXPERIMENT 70: ACTION OF BAKING SODA ON MOLASSES.—Place a teaspoonful of baking molasses in a test tube and dilute with a little water. Test it with litmus paper. What is its reaction? Add a pinch of baking soda. Heat. What does effervescence indicate? What do we call the gas formed by the action of the baking soda and a substance having an acid reaction? Explain how baking soda and molasses could be used to lighten a quick bread.
EXPERIMENT 71: QUANTITY OF BAKING SODA TO USE WITH MOLASSES.—Carefully measure 1/8 cupful of molasses. [Footnote 80: The acidity of molasses may be due to fermentation or to the preservatives used in many brands. Its intensity varies.] Dilute it with much water. Carefully measure 1/16 teaspoonful of baking soda and mix it with water. Add about 3/4 of the soda mixture to the molasses solution. Stir and heat. Test with blue litmus. If it changes color, keep adding the soda mixture, until the litmus paper does not change, as in Experiment 68. When neither blue nor pink litmus paper changes color, what kind of substance,—acid, alkaline, or neutral,—is present? What change has taken place in the materials placed in the saucepan?
This experiment shows that the approximate proportion of baking soda to molasses is:
1/2 teaspoonful of baking soda to 1 cupful of molasses.