One thing I have always loved to do is bake for all my friends and family. In high school, I was known for my s’more cookies and I would bake them every Thursday night and pass them out around school. Little did I know then that baking can be broken down to a bunch of different chemical reactions through the different ingredients.
In chemistry, we learned that one of the most basic ways to tell if a chemical reaction occurs is by looking to see if there was a change of color, noticeable odor, and formation of a precipitate. Let’s say someone is baking a cake, when they mix all the dough together it is a thick liquid; but, when they put it in the oven after a few minutes you can start to smell the sweet aroma and see that the once liquid turns into a solid. The ingredients you put into the bowl to make a cake are the basis for the chemical reactions.
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Baking soda, baking powder (basically baking soda with acidic salt) , and yeast are known as leavening agents, which help give baked goods their puffiness. The baking soda is key because it reacts with acids within the dough to produce the very well known gas CO2. CO2 is what raises bread dough and other baked goods while the baking powder helps free the CO2 from the dough and then again while its baking in the oven. The heat from the oven causes the baking powder to trap the CO2 in small bubbles, hence why cake is not very dense. The bubbles make the cake fluffy and baking powder is not the only baking ingredient that produces bubbles of CO2.
Yeast is more frequently used when baking bread but produces the same results as baking powder. Yeast is a single celled plant that has a unique ability to take sugar and convert it into alcohol and CO2 gas which raises the bread. For best results bread companies go to great measures to ensure the yeast is pure and that it is delivered fresh to the bakery every day.
When you add sugar to the ingredient you are doing more than just sweetening the mixture, you are setting up the dough to undergo a Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction causes the crust to form around many of the common baked goods you see today. It is a chemical reaction between reducing sugars, proteins, and amino acids within the dough. Once you place the dough in the oven around 300 degrees Fahrenheit the reaction will take place causing the dough to begin browning and forming the flavor of the cake.
In conclusion, every ingredient you add to a bowl for cake, bread, pie, or whatever fun baked good you are creating, each ingredient has a very specific purpose that is necessary for a successful pastry. Chemistry is everywhere if you just take the time to look closely enough, you will find that it plays a pivotal role in everyday life.
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