Wait to add chemical leaveners?

Should the baking soda and powder be withheld until after the fermentation step? I would think the rise-power would be played out by the end of this, and that they would interfere with the acidity of the dough and in turn, digestion of the gluten and phytic acid - which defeats the purpose of sourdough, no?

Terry
  • Posted by: Terry
  • November 20, 2023
  • 503 views
  • 3 Comments
Ovenly's Secretly Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe question for: Ovenly's Secretly Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 Comments

Lori T.
Lori T. November 20, 2023
These are not sourdough cookies, it's just a rested cookie dough. The rest allows whatever gluten did develop to relax, and the dough has a chance to allow flavors to mingle. There is nothing really to acidify the dough. The baking powder is activated primarily by heat, and it already contains the acid it will need to act. The baking soda is there to help with browning and flavor, rather than the leavening. It will not harm either ingredient to be added in as called for by the recipe, and you would find it incredibly difficult to adequately incorporate the two after an overnight rest. More than likely you will end up with streaks of unreacted leavener in the cookies, and they will leave a bitter soapy taste in your mouth. The yeast in sourdough also do not digest gluten. In fact, the action of the carbon dioxide helps produce and strengthen gluten strands which is why no knead breads work. It's also why sourdough bread has a chew factor. I also believe that there would be next to no phytic acid present, since you will be using all purpose flour- and the phytates are mostly concentrated in the bran layer.
 
Terry
Terry November 20, 2023
Hello Lori...I assumed this to be a sourdough discard recipe, per the link from this article: https://food52.com/blog/26178-sourdough-discard-recipes. Apparently I did not read the listing carefully enough, as it does state how to *convert* this recipe to one that uses sourdough discard. I made discard biscuits yesterday (using a recipe from another site) and the instructions actually say to mix the baking soda/powder in by hand, after fermentation and just before patting out the dough to cut the biscuits (and they turned out surprisingly tender and biscuit-y, more so than my usual yeasted biscuits). I assumed the same might work here. I also use whole-grain flour by default so I assumed phytates to be a universal issue with wheat flour. Thanks for the clarification!
 
Lori T.
Lori T. November 20, 2023
Okay, that does explain why you were discussing sourdough. I was a bit confused by that. The yeast in sourdough, as with any fermentation, are producing lactic acids which act to break down the phytates. You get the same effect from lactobacillus, which is why pickling also helps reduce the levels and frees up the phosphorus. I also make biscuits with my sourdough discard, although I mix my leavening in with the flour to make sure it is evenly distributed. The reason your sourdough biscuits are more tender has to do the acid- like buttermilk or sour milk, acid works with gluten to help make a more tender and moist biscuit because it helps hold moisture. Yeast biscuits don't get the same help, and end up closer to a roll than a biscuit because the time spent waiting on the proof also allows more gluten formation. And gluten means chew. There are a lot of factors coming in to play with phytate levels in foods as well, but with grains the most is found in the bran coat.
 
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