Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi there.
Your question got me thinking. I wasn't sure what the difference was. So I googled 'baking soda' and found a nifty site http://users.rcn.com/sue.interport/food/bakgsoda.html
In summary, bicarcarbinate of soda is baking soda. Baking soda has a disadvatage; it lets out the CO2 gases all at once (this is what produces the leaving effect).

So I think they came up with "Baking powder [is] a combination of baking soda plus a few other things, most importantly a dry acid" I think this means you don't have to have liquid added to the mix to get the mixture to raise.

As for flour, most of use "all-purpose" flour. It is a finely ground white wheat flour (you don't need to sift it) It is used for most cakes and breads. When you bake breads with it you do have to add yeast to the breads to get them to raise, unless they are a quick bread like brown-sugar banana bread. There is something called self-rising flour, but I've never used it. I dont' know if you need to add yeast to it or not.

I hope this helps.

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