I'm interested to try to make waffles using a concentrated lye water instead of baking soda as a leavening agent. I have three questions related to this subject:
- Would this potentially make my waffles fluffier (due to increased CO2 producing reactions or otherwise)?
- Would it impact the flavor of the waffles?
- Is it safe to ingest waffles that have had a lye water reaction occur in them? (Obviously I should let the lye reaction complete before ingesting).
- How long should I let a lye reaction occur before cooking?
Notably, I often use sourdough starter in my waffles, which has an acid component – I've noticed that I get a strong reaction from the baking soda as a result, and it got me thinking that I would get an even stronger result from lye, but I'm worried about taste and ingestion safety.
Best Answer
I got a pretty thorough answer to my question on the Chemistry sister site to this one.
https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/43896/can-i-use-lye-as-a-cooking-leavener-instead-of-baking-soda
In short, lye, while caustic, will not create a chemical reaction producing CO2, which is what baking soda does during leavening. So lye is at-best an inferior leavening approach, and in most cases, won't work as a leavening ingredient at all.