KITCHEN CHEMISTRY PROJECT

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INTRODUCTION Baking is not usually thought of as a chemical industry, but it relies on the interactions of the various chemicals in flour and the other substances used and thus is chemically based. In this kitchen project, we used to made a perfect pancake by manipulated the amount of baking powder. Besides, we also wanted to analyze the effect of baking powder in the taste and texture of the pancake. Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods such as muffins, cakes, scones and Americanstyles biscuits. There are two types of baking powder: a) Double-Acting Baking Powder b) Single-Acting Baking Powder In this project, we used the Single-Acting Baking Powder. The acid in a baking powder can be either fast-acting or slow-acting. A fast-acting acid reacts in a wet mixture with baking soda at room temperature, and a slowacting acid will not react until heated in an oven. Baking powders that contain both fast and slow-acting acids are double-acting; those that contain only one acid are singleacting. Generally, one teaspoon (5ml) of baking powder is used to rise a mixture of one cup (200 250 ml) of flour, one cup of liquid and one egg. However, if the mixture is acidic, baking powders additional acids will remain unconsumed in the chemical

reaction and often lend and unpleasant chemical taste to food. METHODOLOGY Firstly, all the ingredients needed divided into two parts in a different dry bowls labelled Bowl A and Bowl B. Bowl A contained 1 cups of flour, 2 tablespoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar meanwhile for Bowl B contains 1 cups of milk, 1 egg (lightly beaten) and 2 tablespoon margarine.

Secondly, ingredients in Bowl A and Bowl B were mixed well. Mixture in Bowl A was poured in the Bowl B. Then, the mixtures was stirred continously by using a whisk until the batter became light.

As the batter was ready, put cup of the batter into the dry non-stick frying pan. When the mixture become bubbled, turn the pancake to the other side. After cooked, it is ready to be served.

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From above observation, the amount of baking powder will give different texture and taste to the pancake. Thus, it showed that amount of baking powder will effect the chemical and physical process of pancake. DISCUSSION Every ingredients that have been used in this kitchen chemistry project give chemicals result to the end of the process of making pancake. Flour, that used in this process provides the most of the bulk of the baked item. It composed largely from starch and protein. When placed in an oven, it puffs up to many times it original volume and sets with a light, airy texture. This characteristics enables gluten to provide the structure in baked goods. Margarine, fat which gives a softer texture and helps prevent the carbon dioxide bubbles from escaping from the mixture too soon. Besides, fat can weakens or shortens a dough by weakening its gluten network, resulting in the baked product being softer, breaking easily and having a more tender mouth-feel. Fat can trapped air during beating, mixing, producing a batter that consists of masses of tiny air bubbles trapped within droplets of fat. This is very important as air bubbles can expand during baking forming a light, Sugar, act as sweetener but it also involved in several other processes. Sugar undergoes a series of complex browning reactions above 160 degree, and the products of these form the brown crust of baking powder. This reaction is known as Maillard Reactions, and is essentially amino acids- catalyzed caramelisation reactions in which a sugar aldehyde or ketone is converted to an unsaturated aldehyde or

Lastly, all the steps above is repeated by using 1 tablespoon and tablespoon of baking powder. RESULTS By using 2 tablespoon of baking powder, the texture of the pancake is very fluffy and it is not tasty. It gave bitter tasted to the pancake. For 1 tablespoon of baking powder, it give a fluffy texture pancake and it tastes very nice and it is found to be the perfect amount of baking powder to be used. However, for tablespoon, the condition of the pancake is not fluffy and it just taste nice.

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ketone. As for egg, beaten egg white like fat helps to retain gas bubbles, while egg alone acts as a binder. Meanwhile the salt adds flavour and strengthens soft fat and sugar mixtures. Baking powder is essentially a mixture of NaHCO3 and a weak solid acid or acid salt. When the mixture dissolves in water and the temperature is raised and CO2 is released according to the equation:

continuity of carbon dioxide production are both important. If too much carbon dioxide is produced initially and the reaction ceases, removal the pancake from the frying pan will cause the pancake to drop. CONCLUSION The best method to made a pancake is by using 1 tablespoon of baking powder as it will give a fluffy texture and very nice taste of pancake. However, the other ingredients amount used are constant which is mean they are a control variable in this Kitchen Chemistry Project. REFERENCES J. H. Czernohorsky (Linwood high school) and R. Hooker (T. J Edmonds Ltd.). The Chemistry of Baking. Humphrey-Taylor, Virginia; New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research Resour ce sheets. Campbell, Annette and Humphrey-Taylor, Virginia: The Science behind Breadmaking. Retrieved from http://www.crop.cri.nz/food/foodinfo/millbak e/science.htm

NaHCO 3 + H + Na + + H 2O + CO 2
Baking powder consist of baking soda and cream of tartar. Tartaric acid is more effiecient (because only half the weight of tartaric acid is required to neutralise a given amount of baking soda compared with cream of tartar), but it cannot be used alone since it reacts very quickly. This means that a lot of gas is formed initially, but because it does not continue to be formed the gas does not hold the pancake long enough for it to have the bubbles baked into it and so the pancake collapsed. When baking powder is used rather than baking soda alone, the by products are less alkaline than sodium carbonate and thus they have undesirable effect on the taste of pancake. The type of acid used in the baking powder affects the rate of carbon dioxide production, which in turn affects the pancake. So, a fast rate of carbon dioxide production is required for pancake so that the batter is aerated quickly and will float in the hot oil frying pan to ensure a crisp product. In this process, the rate of carbon dioxide produced and the

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