Baking Soda, Eno, and Baking powder- when & how to use them

I have made this video because I found that many people here in India are not familiar with the difference between these 3 leavening agents. Indeed, I too just followed a recipe blindly and used whatever ingredient was listed, until my curiosity got the better of me. Furthermore, there is a general belief that baking soda or cooking soda as it is known here is not good for you and Eno is much better. In reality though, they both make use of the same chemical reaction - that of combining soda bi carbonate (baking soda) with an acid in the presence of water.
With this video I have started a series on answering queries and questions that we all have on cooking methods, ingredients, the cookware we use and any other related topics. If you have such topics in your mind, please let me know in the comments below and I will provide the answers/ information to you.
Baking as a cooking method is not commonly used in India, although that is changing with the times. Leavening agents are generally used for steamed items like Dhokla or Instant Idlis, or fried items like Vadas, and breads like Naan, Kulcha (both roasted) and Bhatura (fried).
I have summarized the conclusions and important points to note about these leavening agents in the pinned comment.
As a general habit, I would recommend keeping a stock of baking soda in your kitchen. In my opinion, it is a magic ingredient with innumerable uses. A video on this topic will follow soon. For now you can check out my Instagram reel on the benefits of baking soda for cleaning stubborn caked-on stuff from saucepans reelC8O4r0...
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:50 Baking Soda
02:22 Eno
03:20 Baking powder
05:08 Experiments
08:01 Conclusion
Music attribution
Invisible Beauty by Aakash Gandhi, RUclips Audio library
The Beauty of love by Aakash Gandhi, RUclips Audio library
Dancing Star by Aakash Gandhi, RUclips Audio library
Lifting Dreams by Aakash Gandhi, RUclips Audio library
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I am going to summarize the conclusions or important points to note right here
Baking as a cooking method is not commonly used in India, although that is changing with the times. Leavening agents are generally used for steamed items like Dhokla or Instant Idlis, or fried items like Vadas, and breads like Naan, Kulcha (both roasted) and Bhatura (fried).
1. All three use the same leavening ingredient - soda bicarb or baking soda.
2. The rising, leavening, or fluffiness or you steamed or fried item is from the carbon-di-oxide released when the baking soda, comes in contact with water in the presence of an acid.
3. Generally, these are added to batters or doughs which naturally contain water. The acid component is what is the difference in how & when they are used.
4. Baking Soda - is soda-bi-carbonate in its pure form. Therefore, in order for any reaction to happen, you the user has to provide the acid in your batter or dough, usually lemon, yogurt, buttermilk, vinegar, or fruit juice. In that sense it is most flexible but less foolproof. If you forget to add an acid component in your Dhokla batter, you will have a dense cake. I am going to use this as a baseline to compare the other two.
The chemical reaction is instantaneous and if you make a batter and keep it for a while before cooking it, your dhokla or vada or idli will be hard because the carbon dioxide will have escaped from it. Therefore, the soda or the acid must be the last thing you add before cooking the batter.
5. Eno’s fruit salt - is a mixture of soda-bi-carb and citric acid in powder form. All you need is water to produce carbon dioxide and leaven your batter. Therefore, it is the simplest to use. However, you need to add more (almost twice) of it to have the same effect as baking soda. It is also more expensive - 100g of Eno is about ₹160 - ₹175, while 100g of baking soda is about ₹30. The effect on the stomach is the same whether you use Eno, or baking soda in lime juice!
The chemical reaction is instantaneous and if you make a batter and keep it for a while before cooking it, your dhokla or vada or idli will be hard because the carbon dioxide will have escaped from it. Therefore, the eno must be the last thing you add before cooking the batter.
6. Baking powder - is a mixture of soda bicarb, tartaric acid (cream of tartar), corn starch or corn flour, and sodium aluminium sulphate (double acting baking powder). It is somewhat different from these two. It is used for baking which is a relatively slow form of cooking. The chemical reaction to produce carbon dioxide in a batter is the same - The baking soda from reacts with the tartaric acid to produce carbon dioxide. The corn starch is added to slow down the leavening process in a cake batter.
When you use double acting baking powder, the first reaction happens when the batter is mixed, i.e. the dry ingredients are mixed with the wet ingredients. The second reaction happens when the batter warms up in the oven. When the batter reaches 146oF or 46oC, the sodium aluminium sulphate reacts with the remaining baking soda to slowly generate carbon dioxide and causes the cake to rise gradually.
With all these additives, you need three times as much baking powder to replace baking soda in a recipe; however, in my experience, baking powder in large amounts can be quite bitter so do be mindful of that. If you bake a lot, it is better to keep baking powder on hand in your pantry.