Book 1, Question 133
Yeast or Baking Powder? What Makes Dough Rise?
Yeast and baking powder both help dough rise, but in different ways. Yeast is alive and slow, while baking powder is a chemical mix, and both make bubbles that lift the dough. The page says baking powder works in minutes, while yeast likes hours. Look at a recipe and find which lifter it uses!
More fun facts
- For most of human history, yeast was the main way to make dough rise.
- Before store-bought yeast, bakers had to make their own by letting fruit, vegetables or grains ferment.
- Yeast bread could take 12 to 24 hours to rise.
- The first American cookbook, from 1796, used a rising powder called pearlash, made with wood ashes.
- Baking soda arrived in kitchens in 1846, but it needed an acid like sour milk to work.
- In the late 1840s, English chemist Alfred Bird made an early baking powder by mixing baking soda with an acidic powder called cream of tartar.
- In 1856, chemist Eben Norton Horsford created and patented the first modern baking powder.
- Heating baking soda in the oven also breaks it down and releases carbon dioxide, which helps cakes rise.
Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, BBC
Questions kids ask
How long did old-fashioned bread take to rise?
Often 12 to 24 hours.
What did bakers use before baking powder?
Yeast, beaten eggs, pearlash made with wood ashes, and later baking soda with sour milk.