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What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

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What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby jeral » Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:01 pm

... in these flapjacks? It burns my mouth when it's in biscuits and cakes or doughnuts (making them unpleasant if not uneatable) so can I leave it out and maybe use self-raising flour which has a touch of it in the baking powder instead?

Maybe it's activated (goes bubbly) by the acid in the yoghurt.

Any help on how to leave out bicarb - in everything - would be much appreciated. Many thanks

http://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-r ... tmeal-bars

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Re: What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:07 am

I assume the bicarb is in there to react with the yogurt and lighten the bars

It sound unappeling to me, too wet for the quantity of oats, like porridge with the bicarb to fluff it up a bit

It's probably not the bicarb itself that burns your mouth but the sodium carbonate (washing soda) that is formed from it during baking. The only thing I know of that you can replace it with is ammonium bicarbonate, but no idea if that would have the same effect

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Re: What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby jeral » Wed Feb 28, 2018 4:03 pm

Thanks Stokey Sue, I'll look into ammonium bicarb.

Don't worry, my linked flapjack recipe looks odd to me too. It was one of the few I found without butter, but the typical ton of sugar makes me think that making granola (or just porridge) instead would make more sense :thumbsup

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Re: What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby Renée » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:49 pm

I've just noticed that it was an American website, jeral, so their flapjack recipes are probably different to ours. I've never come across one like that.

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Re: What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:55 pm

If you want to make a butter free flapjack (UK style) I'd suggest searching for oat snack bar bar or muesli bar

For example
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/hea ... ars-190567

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Re: What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby jeral » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:47 pm

Stokey Sue, that Genius recipe for making oat bars is very much what I was looking for so I'll give those a go - i.e. simple fundamental ingredients. Many thanks.

Renée, nor have I come across flapjacks with flour or yoghurt or egg whites. It looks more like a drop cookie mix to me, but still probably very nice if you're OK with sugar.

PS Renée: Any idea what causes your high blood pressure given you exercise and eat healthily? I wonder if it's hereditary, only because mine is low (as my dad's was) though has crept up a bit since since my younger days. Hope yours is under control now :crossed

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Re: What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby Renée » Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:03 am

Jeral, my father had heart problems, but there were no blood pressure checks back in those days. I have his build, most likely, but light hair colour, whereas he had very dark hair. Mum was a lightweight all her life and was told that she had the blood pressure of a young girl! She also ate very lightly all her life. It does seem to be under control now with two meds, but I need to lose a bit of weight! Thank you for your concern.

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Re: What does bicarb (baking soda) do?...

Postby jeral » Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:29 pm

Renée, so far so good eh? I'm sure the worry of such things can't help. Some people turn the news off for a day or two to calm down, although in these temperatures it's probably the smart meter monitors going out of the window rather than the telly ;)

Back on oats, I've been putting a few in smoothies to soak the night before, then blitzing in the morning. They act as a thickener so I skip the banana if I add oats. I've been drinking them very hot this week, as brunch since they're very filling with all the other gubbins.

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