Baked Goods: Types of Leavening Agents

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Course Title: Culinary Arts 1

  Course Number: 8800500

  Career Cluster: Hospitality and Tourism

  CIP Number: 0420040210

  Course Type: Career Preparatory

  Standards and Benchmarks:

  Focus:

  07.0

  Understand principles of food science in cooking and baking techniques.

  07.02

  Identify and explain the various leavening agents used in baking.

  Supporting:

  SC.912.P.8.2

  Differentiate between physical and chemical properties and physical and chemical changes of matter. (C. In a chemical reaction, one or more reactants are transformed into one or more new products. Many factors shape the nature of products and the rates of reaction.)

  SC.912.L.18.8

  Identify the reactants, products, and basic functions of aerobic and anaerobic cellular respiration.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson will fall under a unit on baked goods in culinary arts. The unit will focus on identification and categorization of baked goods. The first lesson will introduce the various baked goods categories and the standard ingredient groups that are commonly used to make baked goods. This lesson will be the second in this unit's series. The lesson will focus on the identification of, explanation of, and use of common leavening agents as a baked goods ingredient. Students will use this information to predict, observe, and explain how different leavening agents react with various ingredients in different baked goods recipes, in a hands-on kitchen lab setting.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson includes the skills of resource management and information use, specifically related to time management and organization of physical materials in the workspace. Also, the organization of intellectual thoughts that are generated by the experiments, observations and the documentation of observations gathered in a group setting through collaboration onto the documents provided to the students.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Identify the commonly used leavening agents for the category of baked goods.
  • Predict the reactions of leavening agents based on different reactants.
  • Compare the reactions between two types of chemical leaveners and one organic leavening agent.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Categories of Baked Goods (Quick Breads, Yeast Breads, Desserts, Pies, Cookies, Pastry, etc.)
  • Identify and categorize common culinary ingredients as either an acid, neutral, or base.
  • Identify, select, and use appropriate culinary measuring tools (measuring spoons, liquid measuring cups)

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  1. What ingredient used in baking causes doughs and batters to rise?
  2. What are the categories of leavening agents?
  3. What is the food source for yeast (organic leavening agent) and what type of cellular respiration takes place in this process?
  4. What are the two common chemical leaveners used in baking?
     1. What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
     2. What liquid ingredient is needed to create a reaction with the chemical leavener?
     3. What is created by combining a chemical leavener with an acid? What is the state of matter in its final phase?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. (5 minutes) To introduce the lesson, review the categories of ingredients used in baked goods recipes, from the prior lesson, focusing on what leaveners do as a part of a baked goods recipe. - See guiding questions #1 & #2
  2. (5 minutes) Explain to students that they will be participating in an experiment to observe, predict, compare, and evaluate the different types of leavening agents.
     • Review information related to the goal of leavening agents, that being - generating carbon dioxide bubbles that will be trapped in the batter or dough, creating a rising effect during the baking process.
     • Organic Leavening Agents -> anaerobic cellular respiration (from yeast processing sugars present in the ingredient mixture, and creating carbon dioxide as a byproduct - without the presence of oxygen)
     • Chemical Leavening Agents -> change of matter occurs when a solid base (sodium bicarbonate or baking powder) comes into contact with liquid acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and creates a gas (carbon dioxide).
  3. (10 minutes) Provide students with the Leavening Agent Experiment handout (see attachment) and review the directions and expectations for the activity. Allow time for students to gather and set up their workspace and the experiments. See Teacher Notes for ideas and pacing.
  4. (20 minutes) As students work, provide support and experiment recommendations, referring students back to guiding questions to spark attention to specific details during observation.
  5. (10 minutes) To bring the lesson to a close, provide a 5 min clean up window. Then have students discuss their observations within their lab groups to complete their documentation of final experiment reflections. Before students submit work, refer to guiding questions #3 & #4. Review these questions as a class and have students underline/edit their analysis to emphasis/include the answers to those guiding questions.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Teachers may vary group sizes based on what works best for the class, or even assign it as an individual activity.
  • Teachers may choose to premeasure ingredients for the experiment to save time and control ingredient supply.
  • Teachers may want to integrate technology by allowing video recordings or photographs of the leavening agent reactions, to be attached in a digital submission to the assignment (Learning Management System required).
  • Teachers may even make available a digital version of the handout for completion.
  • Teachers may want to assign roles to the group members for example - materials manager, team leader, speaker, recorder.

• Optional

  
  

  Extension Ideas:

  • Sourdough Babies - Students may grow their own sourdough starter and see the organic leavening agent process happen with naturally made yeast - without the assistance of instant rise dried yeast. Starter may be used at a later time in a bread lab.
  • Ask students “Are there baked goods that exist without leaveners? Where in your experience have you eaten or seen unleavened baked goods?” Have students look up unleavened baked goods online and then discuss as a class, the cultural reasoning behind the purpose and continued availability of unleavened baked goods.