Chemically Fluffy
Chicken Stew with Drop Buttermilk Dumplings
Heart warming and filling, chicken and dumplings have many varieties. It seems like every grandma from a southern US state has their own recipe, I prefer the drop dumpling variety in a chicken stew. Combining buttermilk in a classic biscuit recipe, I drop the raw batter into the simmering liquid and cover the pot with a tight fitting lid. The biscuits then steam like a bao bun. The dumplings rise and are light and fluffy on the inside with a rich, soup infused layer on the outside.
Biscuits are considered a quick bread and receive their rise from a chemical leavening. What is this chemical? Sodium bicarbonate and sodium aluminum sulfate, or baking soda and baking powder.
What is baking soda? It is a single chemical of pure sodium bicarbonate. Baking powder has many different combinations. Whereas sodium aluminum sulfate is the most common, monocalcium phosphate monohydrate and dicalcium phosphate dihydrate are also baking powder compounds. (1)
Remember that experiment you did as a kid? You know the one...making a volcano and placing baking soda and vinegar together and watching it foam over. What you were observing was a chemical reaction between the chemical sodium bicarbonate and liquid acid. Baking soda will release carbon dioxide gas, forming bubbles.
Baking powder is baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) mixed with a dry acid, such as cream of tartar. A moisture absorbing compound, in this case cornstarch, is added. The cornstarch aids in absorbing moisture and keeps the baking soda and dry acid apart during storage, preventing premature production of gas. When baking powder becomes wet, the dry acid comes into contact with the baking soda and carbon dioxide is formed. (2)
Baking powder is favored in recipes when natural acid is not present. In the case of my dumplings, buttermilk is a natural acid. Not only will the baking soda react to the acid in the buttermilk, releasing carbon dioxide, the baking powder will release additional carbon dioxide resulting in very light and fluffy dumplings. Without the use of leavening, the dumplings would be flat and dense.
(1) What Einstein Told His Cook by: Robert L. Wolke; W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House; 2002; pg. 97
(2) Cook’s Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking; Science Editor: Guy Crosby, PhD; Brookline America’s Test Kitchen; 2012; pg. 358
