Fix for metallic taste in cookies?

I mixed up the dough for these cookies: https://food52.com/recipes... -- and used baking powder instead of baking soda (and doubled the amount called for). Baked a few cookies and they taste slightly metallic. Is there a way to salvage the rest of the batch?

LFragola
  • 16468 views
  • 9 Comments

9 Comments

Maedl
Maedl April 29, 2016
Rumford is all over the place in his inventions--overall quite remarkable, but since he sided with the British during the Revolution, he doesn't get much recognition in the US.

I finally figured out the baking powder difference when a friend in DC was using a French baking powder for US recipes and not getting very good leavening in her cakes and muffins. I started comparing the baking powder ingredients and realized that all 'chemical leavenings' are not the same. I have not had a problem using the baking soda in Germany in US recipes--it is sodium bicarbonate on both sides of the Atlantic, as far as I know. Actially, my baking soda problem had more to do with figuring out what it was called in German--but once I knew that, it is easily available in grocery stores.
 
Maedl
Maedl April 28, 2016
For future reference, baking soda and baking powder are not interchangable. They react differently to certain ingredients. And European baking powder is different than US baking powder, so choose your baking powder according to the source of your recipe.
 
pierino
pierino April 28, 2016
Are there EU regulations on what a chemical levening agent can (or can't contain)? I'm kind of curious now that this thread has started.
 
LFragola
LFragola April 28, 2016
I didn't know that European baking powder isn't the same as American -- good to know! I guess I'll have to pick up some Rumford when I'm back in the States.
 
Maedl
Maedl April 28, 2016
I'm sure there are EU regulations on baking powder--they are a reg-happy group! What I have figured out so far is that baking powders in Europe--perhaps I should say France and Germany because that is where I have had experience--seem to be single-acting, while US baking powders are double acting. This means that anything made with single acting baking powder expands as soon as the baking powder hits the wet ingredients and you must get it in the oven immediately. The US versions have the initial expansion, but then a second one when you put the batter in the oven and it hits the heat.

I keep meaning to get to the point of really understanding this--there is a lot of chemistry involved and it can get pretty complex. The really interesting thing to me, though, is Rumford--he was a real person. He lived in Massachusetts or one of the other northern colonies before the Revolution. He supported the British side, though, and eventually ended up in Munich, where he became a close advisor to the Bavarian king. He reformed and reorganized the Bavarian army, created the English Gardens (Munich's Central Park) and did major work to feed and house the poor. He created Rumford soup--which was cheap and filling and on the table of all the soup kitchens in Munich back in the early 1800s. He also did some early work on chemical leavenings, hence Rumford baking powder. There is a statue of him and a street named in his honor in Munich, which is how I learned about him.
 
Greenstuff
Greenstuff April 29, 2016
Maedl, I had not connected him to the baking powder that I use, but Rumford was also known for his fireplaces. They are tall and shallow, so the reflect a lot of heat. I have several friends with Rumford fireplaces in their houses, including one that's been built right now.
 
aargersi
aargersi April 28, 2016
I can attest to the deliciousness of these cookies no matter where in the world you are - if you can't find the right baking powder, I can send you some :-)
 
Fresa
Fresa April 28, 2016
Thanks, Abbie! Agreed, they are delicious even with the slight metallic taste. ;)
 
pierino
pierino April 28, 2016
Baking powder contains aluminum. You can buy aluminum free baking powder from Rumford. A mix of 1 tablespoon baking soda to 1/4 cup cream of tarter works pretty well---except that it will be more expensive in the short run.
 
Recommended by Food52

Popular on Food52