Quenching soda with vinegar often raises many questions - why do it, how to do it and what is better to use: vinegar, kefir or boiling water? In ancient Russian recipes, soda was not mentioned at all, but today it is widely used as a baking powder, which must be extinguished.
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Soda and Vinegar
Soda is quenched for the reason that in its original form it has a rather unpleasant soapy taste. When cooking pancakes, it can be extinguished with the help of fermented milk products or boiling water - but such methods do not work with shortcrust pastry, so the mistresses began to use 9% vinegar to extinguish them. As a result, soda under the influence of an acidic environment begins to actively emit carbon dioxide, which gives the baking porosity and splendor.
In addition to vinegar, a small amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice can also be used to quench soda.
Some professional chefs do not recommend quenching soda with vinegar - this practice appeared spontaneously, from the myth that soda quenching should occur in reaction with something sour. To prepare the dough from which the baking will be prepared, it is advisable to extinguish soda with honey, which, despite its sweet taste, has an acidic pH reaction, which is quite enough to extinguish the soda baking powder. To properly knead such a dough, you must first mix the dry baking ingredients with soda, and mix the liquid ingredients with acid in the form of vinegar, honey, kefir or lemon juice. Then the dough is quickly kneaded from both mixtures and baked immediately.