Leavening agent and baking soda: how to add it correctly?

What is the right way to add baking soda or baking powder to baked goods so that they turn out puffy? It turns out that there are nuances. I want to tell you about them.

I used to put vinegar in a spoonful of baking soda, and I was pretty sure that was the right way to do it.) Then, gaining a little experience in baking, I made a discovery to myself - it turns out that the baking soda is unevenly distributed in the dough, and most of the carbon dioxide, which should loosen the dough, escapes into the air. Then I began to specify in many recipes that the baking soda and leavening agent should be sifted together with the flour, so that the leavening agents are evenly distributed in the dough. But yesterday I found out that's not quite right either!

Can you feel the difference?
That was a lyrical introduction, but now here's the actual story:)
Last night I was going to bake a zebra pie for a video recipe. So, on my own advice, I sifted the flour and baking powder together. I looked - in the sieve there were some grains. Probably lumps of flour, that happens. Good thing I sifted. And the pie went into the oven... When I looked in about 20 minutes later, I saw that there was something wrong with the pie. It didn't rise evenly and was kind of humpy... Maybe it'll finish baking and be all right. But even the finished pie was uneven, and when I cut it, it turned out to be kind of dense, not clumpy or soggy, but... on the edge. How did that happen? I've been foaming Zebra for years, the recipe is one of our favorites and has been tested many times. What is it? And then I remembered... The crumbs in the sieve weren't lumps. They were citric acid crystals from the leavening agent. 😀
The leavening agent is a mixture of baking soda, citric acid, and flour. The baking soda and citric acid react in the batter during baking and give a lushness to the baked goods. And if there are foods with an acidic reaction in that bake - sour milk (kefir, sour cream, yogurt) and more, but also - honey, apple juice, lemon juice, orange juice... - In other words, there is extra acid, then, in addition to the baking powder, you should also add some baking soda to the dough, which will "balance" the acidic ingredient and help the pie or cakes to rise better, turn out fluffier and more fluffy.

In this case, however, most of the acid from the leavening agent didn't get into the dough. And the baking soda, to add, as there was a lot of sour cream in the dough, just was not there. And here is the result - the pie rose unevenly and weakly. True, the housemates ate it quickly anyway, saying that the pie is like a pie and very tasty:) But in the video everything must be perfect, so the next day I started baking a second pie.

This time I did everything right. I went to the store, bought baking soda, sifted the flour along with a quarter teaspoon of baking soda, and one and a half teaspoons of baking powder mixed with the flour, without sifting. And the pie turned out puffy.

The second "Zebra" rose perfectly, turned out high, fluffy, porous inside, and now this pie is quite possible to show people:) Which we will do at the bottom of the recipe:)
Conclusion ... to make your cake rise well, do as follows.Sift the soda together with the flour.
Then the soda will be evenly distributed, there will be no lumps and taste of soda in the cake. Since the baking soda is very fine, almost as fine as flour, it will not stick in a colander or a sieve.
We mix the baking powder with flour, sifting it separately beforehand. Then pour it all together into the dough.
That way you can be sure that the citric acid crystals are in the right place.

And not masked by lumps. However, if you do not sift through the finest sieve or colander, but through larger cells, there will be no problem.
And now I suggest watching a video recipe for zebra pie.

Have a great and lush baking experience!