Unusual baking ingredient...

[azasadny]

Our exchange student from Norway wanted to bake some traditional holiday goodies for us and she asked for "Baker's ammonia" and we had never heard of that so Beth called the local cake decorator's supply shop and they had some. This stuff is also "smelling salts" and when I open the container and took a big whiff of it, I got quite the shock! It woke me up, all right!

Ammonium carbonate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ammonium carbonate



IUPAC name[hide]
Ammonium carbonate
Identifiers
CAS number 506-87-6
ChemSpider 10048
UNII PDP691CN28
Jmol-3D images Image 1
SMILES
[show]
InChI
[show]
Properties
Molecular formula (NH4)2CO3
Molar mass 96.09 g/mol
Appearance White powder
Density 1.50 g/cm3
Melting point
58 °C, 331 K, 136 °F
Boiling point
Decomposes
Solubility in water Soluble, decomposes in hot water
Hazards
MSDS External MSDS
Main hazards Irritant
Related compounds
Other anions Ammonium bicarbonate
Other cations Sodium carbonate
Potassium carbonate
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Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox references
Ammonium carbonate is a salt with the chemical formula (NH4)2CO3. Commercial samples labeled ammonium carbonate no longer contain this compound, but a mixture that has similar ammonia content. Since it readily degrades to gaseous ammonia and carbon dioxide upon heating, it is used as a leavening agent and also as smelling salt. It is also known as baker's ammonia and was a predecessor to the more modern leavening agents baking soda and baking powder. It is a component of what was formerly known as Sal volatile and salt of hartshorn.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Production
1.1 Decomposition
2 Uses
2.1 Leavening agent
2.2 Other uses
3 See also
4 References
[edit]Production

Ammonium carbonate is produced by contacting carbon dioxide and ammonia. About 7000 tons/year were produced as of 1997.[1]
[edit]Decomposition
Ammonium carbonate decomposes at standard temperature and pressure through two pathways. Thus any initially "pure" sample of ammonium carbonate will soon become a mixture including various daughter products.
Ammonium carbonate can spontaneously decompose into ammonium bicarbonate and ammonia:
(NH4)2CO3 → NH4HCO3 + NH3
Similarly, oxygen converts it to ammonium carbamate and water:
(NH4)2CO3 + O2 → NH4CO2NH2 + H2O
[edit]Uses

[edit]Leavening agent
Ammonium carbonate is mainly used as a leavening agent in traditional recipes, particularly those from northern Europe and Scandinavia. It can sometimes be substituted with baking powder, but the finished product will never be as airy and light as the original recipe. Icelandic loftkökur (air biscuits) for instance require leavening by ammonium carbonate.[citation needed]
Its use as a leavening agent, with associated controversy, goes back centuries:
In the third kind of bread, a vesicular appearance is given to it by the addition to the dough of some ammoniacal salt, (usually the sub-carbonate,) which becomes wholly converted into a gaseous substance during the process of baking, causing the dough to swell out into little air vessels, which finally bursting, allow the gas to escape, and leave the bread exceedingly porous. Mr. Accum, in his Treatise on Culinary Poisons, has stigmatized this process as "fraudulent," but, in our opinion, most unjustly. The bakers would never adopt it but from necessity: when good yeast cannot be procured, it forms an admirable and perfectly harmless substitute; costing the baker more, it diminishes his profit, while the consumer is benefited by the bread retaining the solid matter, which by the process of fermentation is dissipated in the form of alcohol and carbonic acid gas.
—Luke Hebert, The Engineer’s and Mechanic’s Encyclopedia, 1849, vol.1, p.239, article "Bread"
[edit]Other uses
Ammonium carbonate is the main component of smelling salts, although the commercial scale of their production is small. Buckley's cough syrup from Canada today uses ammonium carbonate as an active ingredient intended to help relieve symptoms of bronchitis. It is also used as an emetic. It is also found in smokeless tobacco products, such as Skoal.

[recycled sixtie]

I believe it is called baking powder.

[azasadny]

Here is baking powder...

Baking powder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Baking powder

Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture. It is used instead of yeast for end-products where fermentation flavors would be undesirable[1] or where the batter lacks the elastic structure to hold gas bubbles for more than a few minutes.[2] Because carbon dioxide is released at a faster rate through the acid-base reaction than through fermentation, breads made by chemical leavening are called quick breads.
Most commercially available baking powders are made up of an alkaline component (typically sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda), one or more acid salts (like Tartaric Acid), and an inert starch (cornstarch in most cases, though potato starch may also be used). Baking soda is the source of the carbon dioxide,[3] and the acid-base reaction can be generically represented as[4]
NaHCO3 + H+ → Na+ + CO2 + H2O
The inert starch serves several functions in baking powder. Primarily it is used to absorb moisture, and thus prolong shelf life by keeping the powder's alkaline and acidic components from reacting prematurely. A dry powder also flows and mixes more easily. Finally, the added bulk allows for more accurate measurements.[5]
The acid in a baking powder can be either fast-acting or slow-acting.[6] A fast-acting acid reacts in a wet mixture with baking soda at room temperature, and a slow-acting acid will not react until heated in an oven. Baking powders that contain both fast- and slow-acting acids are double acting; those that contain only one acid are single acting. By providing a second rise in the oven, double-acting baking powders increase the reliability of baked goods by rendering the time elapsed between mixing and baking less critical, and this is the type most widely available to consumers today. Double-acting baking powders work in two phases; once when cold, and once when hot.[7] Common low-temperature acid salts include cream of tartar and monocalcium phosphate (also called calcium acid phosphate). High-temperature acid salts include sodium aluminium sulfate, sodium aluminum phosphate and sodium acid pyrophosphate.[8]

[k9handler]

ha ha...wait till she wants to make lutefisk! Yuck.

from wikipideia
Lutefisk is made from dried whitefish (normally cod in Norway, but ling is also used) prepared with lye in a sequence of particular treatments. The watering steps of these treatments differ slightly for salted/dried whitefish because of its high salt content.

The first treatment is to soak the stockfish in cold water for five to six days (with the water changed daily). The saturated stockfish is then soaked in an unchanged solution of cold water and lye for an additional two days. The fish swells during this soaking, and its protein content decreases by more than 50 percent producing a jelly-like consistency. When this treatment is finished, the fish (saturated with lye) has a pH value of 11–12 and is therefore caustic. To make the fish edible, a final treatment of yet another four to six days of soaking in cold water (also changed daily) is needed. Eventually, the lutefisk is ready to be cooked.

In Finland, the traditional reagent used is birch ash. It contains high amounts of potassium carbonate and bicarbonate, giving the fish a more mellow treatment than would lye. It is important not to incubate the fish too long in the lye because saponification of the fish fats may occur. The term for such spoiled fish in Finnish is saippuakala (soap fish).[citation needed]

[Gogar]

pics of exchange student from Norway please

[azasadny]

Dina doesn't like lutefisk and her family doesn't eat it. Her favorite food is pizza but she's tried every food we've given her and she loves our food, especially ice cream. she does Zumba twice a week and is the manager of the girl's basketball team at our high school, and takes part in the work-outs, so she's able to burn off those calories. She loved Thanksgiving at my wife's family's house as they had lots of good food!

[k9handler]

very cool...more people to should try and explore the world, we can all learn so much from this.

[genrex]

If there is a sizable Scandinavian community in your area, she could open a bakery and make a comfortable living. There are at least two Scandinavian bakeries in the Seattle area, and they have fervently loyal followings. One of them plays classical instrumental music and has the most astonishingly good espresso, and it is my favorite coffee shop. Looking at the desserts in the display case, it's hard to choose just one.

_

[azasadny]

No Scandinavian anything here, maybe in Minnesota, but this was a Polish/German ghetto, now it's Lebanese, Chaldean, Yemeni, etc...

[Nostril Cheese]

pics or GTFO.

lutefisk is FOUL.

[RWebb]

pics of the Lebanese, Chaldean, Yemeni chicks also please

[k9handler]

cmon guys...pics? If your daughter was in this situation would you want her picture being posted online? I know it would upset me...and I enjoy looking at the girl threads.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by k9handler

cmon guys...pics? If your daughter was in this situation would you want her picture being posted online? I know it would upset me...and I enjoy looking at the girl threads.

It's a joke, man.

[craigster59]

You can order baking ammonia online or find in a German/ Nordic market. Here's a good definition:

"Originally made from the ground antlers of reindeer, this is an ancestor of modern baking powder. Northern Europeans still use it because it makes their springerle and gingerbread cookies very light and crisp. Unfortunately, it can impart an unpleasant ammonia flavor, so it's best used in cookies and pastries that are small enough to allow all of the ammonia odor to dissipate while baking. Look for it in German or Scandinavian markets, drug stores, baking supply stores, or a mail order catalogue. It comes either as lumps or powder. If it isn't powdered, crush it into a very fine powder with a mortar & pestle or a rolling pin. Don't confuse this with ordinary household ammonia, which is poisonous.

Substitutions:
Baking powder (This is very similar, but might not yield as light and crisp a product.) OR 1 teaspoon Baker's Ammonia = 1 teaspoon Baking Powder plus 1 teaspoon Baking Soda."

And Art posted a pic back when she first arrived, looks like a very nice girl. Cute too, but then, we Scandinavians are quite the lookers.

[craigster59]

And I agree, lutefisk IS foul....

[Gogar]

But, if she's willing to sign a release form for the pics, then there's no reason why he shouldn't post some.

[RWebb]

ok, problem solved -- just give him a reindeer

[azasadny]

I just tasted one of the cookies that Dina made with the ammonia carbonate. They were very light, crunchy and delicious!!!

[A930Rocket]

Picture of cookie at least...

[azasadny]

I think they're gone...