Successful Baking for Flavor and Texture

Successful baking is another way of keeping a family happy. For who isn't filled with the joy of living when tempted by the penetrating aroma of Gingerbread, rich and spicy ... or a piece of luscious velvety Chocolate Cake, full of flavor? What adds more zest to a meal than a surprise plate of hot breads ... fragrant Cinnamon Buns, maybe Lemon Clover Rolls, delicate Soda Biscuits or Old Fashioned Corn Bread? The secret for making these successfully is as "old as the hills" but as new as the morrow. Baking soda! Yes, grandmother used it in her prized recipes and the modern homemaker finds it making her baking day a success. Baking soda has stored in it a tremendous quantity of carbon dioxide gas, the same gas found in soda water and ginger ale. This is released when it comes in contact with any acid material such as the many mild acids naturally found in cooking ingredients. Among those ingredients are chocolate, cocoa, brown sugar, tomato juice, sour milk, buttermilk, apple sauce, spices, cottage cheese, molasses, vinegar, citrus fruit juices and many more. These acid ingredients are familiar to everyone. One or more of them, you will notice, is used almost every time you bake.