calling all baking experts - a few questions

[HappyLady]

A baker I am not. Nor do I understand the science behind baking so I give you full permission to laugh at me for any of the following questions. :)

 

First, I recently switched from baking powder with aluminum to baking powder without. The first thing I made were pancakes and the batter was very "bubbly", almost like a bread dough instead of pancake batter. It just looked like it had a lot of bubbles in the dough, if that makes sense. Surprisingly the pancakes turned out just fine. It's happened with every batch since then so it wasn't just a fluke. Could the non-aluminum baking powder be reacting differently with the gluten in the flour, or what could it be?

 

Also, I just made a batch of pumpkin muffins (the same thing happened with the batter as did with the pancakes) and the paper muffin cup bottoms were very oily. This tends to happen a lot whenever I made muffins or cupcakes. I can't imagine that it happens with all recipes so what the heck am I doing wrong?

 

Finally, I plan on freezing some of the muffins I just made so that we can take them on our trip in a few days. I'd also like to pack some in my suitcase to have some where we're staying, but I'd like to put them in the freezer again when we get to where we're going. Do you think the muffins would be ok if they were frozen today, then taken out of the freezer for about 8 hours (and traveling in the underneath of a plane in a suitcase) and then being re-frozen?

 

Thanks!

[redsquirrel]

Sounds like you have some fresh baking powder. That is the bubbles. As it gets older it bubbles less. You shouldn't keep baking powder for years because it gets less effective. Pancake batter should have some bubbles, that is what makes the pancakes fluffy. No 'reaction with gluten' involved.

 

Oily muffin liners is due to oily food. There is nothing unsual about that. Sometimes people cook them in one liner and then put the whole thing in a second liner for display. It looks prettier that way. But, don't worry about the oilness.

 

As for the freezing etc I doubt it is dangerous, and you prob won't notice a difference in quality. You could always try it with one muffin ahead of time. Freeze it, take it out and let it thaw and then refreeze. See how you like it.

[nukeswife]

I agree with the above poster about questions 1 and 2. That's how BP should act, it should be bubbly.

 

As for the frozen muffins, should be fine. My mom once froze my favorite soup from a restaurant they only have where I grew up. She flew with it in her suitcase (in the cargo area of the plane) and they even lost her suitcase for a day. When they delivered the suitcase to my house the next day the soup was still frozen. That area of the plane actually is quite cold much of the time, I think it's from the altitudes they fly at.

[Cinder]

:iagree: With redsquirrel. I only use the aluminum-free Rumford and have never had a problem with it.

[WishboneDawn]

Baking powder is made with baking soda and cream of tartar. The cream of tartar is an acid and when it gets wet it reacts to the baking soda by bubbling and producing carbon dioxide. It's the bubbles of carbon dioxide that raise the dough and it\s the same reaction you'd see with baking soda and vinegar.

 

Anyhow, yes, the bubbles are normal.

 

ETA: You can make your own baking powder with one part BS to two parts CoT. I had to do that myself this weekend when I ran out of BP.