name: Leavening Agent

flavor_db_name_variants: leavening agent

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Leavening agent

id: 661

name_scientific: null

description: A leavening agent is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that causes a foaming action that lightens and softens the finished product. Formation of carbon dioxide is induced by chemical agents reacting with moisture, heat, acidity, or other triggers. The leavening agent incorporates gas bubbles into the dough. The alternative or supplement to leavening agents is mechanical leavening by which air is incorporated by mechanical means. Most leavening agents are synthetic chemical compounds, but carbon dioxide can also be produced by biological agents. When a dough or batter is mixed, the starch in the flour mixes with the water in the dough to form a matrix (often supported further by proteins like gluten or other polysaccharides like pentosans or xanthan gum), then gelatinizes and "sets"; the holes left by the gas bubbles remain.

itis_id: null

wikipedia_id: Leavening_agent

picture_file_name: 682.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 267587

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:36:46.000Z

legacy_id: null

food_group: Baking goods

food_subgroup: Baking goods

food_type: Type 2

created_at: 2011-12-06T16:47:07.000Z

updated_at: 2020-03-12T20:59:59.000Z

creator_id: 2

updater_id: 2

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: null

export_to_foodb: true

public_id: FOOD00661