Anzac weekend will bring a flurry of activity around our home as we attempt to get everything in order before those first icy storms blast in from Antarctica. There are leaves to rake, garden beds to cut back and mulch with pea straw, gutters to clear, and wardrobes to change out. An alarming flurry of moths emerging from the pantry reminds me that a major pre-winter sort out is needed there. Invariably, even inside sealed jars, things like dried fruit, nuts, seeds, flour and pasta are likely to be riddled with the tell-tale spider webby trails of weevils. Even the chilli flakes have been "weevilled" and need to be biffed.
Year in, year out, the ever-faithful box of baking soda is one of the few things that remains untouched by those bloody moths. Someone once remarked that baking soda should be renamed "everything soda". You can use it to take out stinky smells from the fridge, freshen your laundry, scrub out garlicky flavours and smells from wooden chopping boards, shine up the silver or the sink and rinse off pesticide residue from produce.
And that's without even bringing it into the kitchen. Here, baking soda isn't just a useful leavening agent. Thanks to its alkaline pH, baking soda, aka sodium bicarbonate (pH 8.5) gives an appealing rich golden brown colour to baked goods. A teaspoonful added to a pot of soaked chickpeas or dried beans helps speed up the softening process. Half a teaspoon of baking soda, added to the water used to boil potatoes before roasting them, gives a much crunchier crust.
When it comes to using baking soda in baking, less is more. It is four times stronger than baking powder, so use too much at your peril. Baking soda forms carbon dioxide gas when it's heated – this joins on to the bubbles in your batter and makes your breads, cakes, scones, etc rise. However, it also produces sodium carbonate, which leaves an unpleasant, soapy flavour behind. By mixing baking soda with an acid-like citrus juice, vinegar, buttermilk or runny yoghurt, the sodium carbonate is partially neutralised and leaves behind less aftertaste. This added acid also activates the soda and helps the carbon dioxide gas release more quickly. If you don't activate the soda before you cook your mixture, then it's likely that you'll end up with too many CO2 bubbles. Your cake or muffins will initially rise and rise - and then, once these giant bubbles reach the top, they pop. Whammo, your beautifully rising cake/muffins/quick bread will deflate and collapse, often leaving a sinking crater in the middle.
The following recipes demonstrate just how useful baking soda can be in your baking.
Chewy or crunchy Anzac biscuits
The baking soda in these biscuits is what makes them spread out. By making them thicker and cooking for longer you can make these crunchy if preferred.
Ready in 30 mins
Makes about 30
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
1 cup thread coconut
1 cup soft brown sugar
125g butter
¼ cup golden syrup
2 Tbsp boiling water
½ tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 160C fan bake and line 2 oven trays with baking paper for easy clean-up.
Combine rolled oats, flour, coconut and sugar in a large bowl. Heat together butter, golden syrup and water until butter melts. Stir in baking soda, then mix into dry ingredients until well combined.
Roll mixture into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball and place on trays, allowing room for spreading. For crunchy biscuits with a chewy centre, lightly flatten with a fork and bake for 20-25 minutes. For chunky, super-hard biscuits, bake for 30-35 minutes. For very crunchy thin biscuits, press very flat and bake for 15 minutes.
Allow to cool on the trays (they will harden on cooling). They will keep for several weeks in an airtight container.
Ultimate chocolate cake
This cake will make you a star. It is ridiculously simple to make and always comes out perfectly risen and flat on top, no cracks or bumps or craters.
Ready in 1¼ hours
Serves 16
3 cups self-raising flour (can use gluten-free)
2 cups caster sugar
¾ cup cocoa, preferably Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
2 tsp baking soda, crushed to remove any lumps
3 large eggs
200g butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk or natural yoghurt
1 cup boiling hot coffee
1½ tsp vanilla extract
TO SERVE (optional)
½-1 recipe chocolate ganache (see below)
Fresh raspberries, to garnish
Preheat oven to 160C fan bake. Grease the sides of one 30cm or two 20cm springform cake tin(s) and line the base(s) with baking paper.
Place all ingredients in a large bowl, electric mixer or food processor and mix or whizz until fully incorporated. Pour into tin(s) and smooth top.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (1 hour for large cake, 45 minutes for small cake). Allow to cool in the tin.
If not using at once, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. When ready to serve, slather with ganache (if desired) and top with fresh raspberries.
Chocolate ganache
If making two cakes, sandwich them together with the ganache and spread it over the top. For a single larger cake, use half a recipe of the ganache to cover the top and if you want, use the other half to cover the sides.
Ready in 10 mins + standing time
Makes about 4 cups
500ml cream
500g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
Heat the cream in a medium pot until it is almost but not quite boiling (you'll know it's ready when bubbles start to form around the edge of the pot).
Remove pot from the heat and add the chocolate. Allow to stand for 2 minutes, then stir until the chocolate is fully melted into the cream.
Whisk until smooth and glossy (when you start to stir it, you think it won't come together, but it will). If not using straight away, store it in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
It will solidify as it cools so if you want a runnier consistency, gently warm in a pot or microwave before use.
Never-fail pikelets
This is a very old recipe from my mother's files. Baking powder is made with a ratio of one part baking soda to three parts cream of tartar (which, like golden syrup, is acidic and activates the soda, ensuring a good rise). Adjusting the ratio here eliminates any soapy soda flavour, at the same time as giving the pikelets a rich golden colour.
Ready in 30 mins + standing
Makes 24
1 egg
¾ cup milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp golden syrup
1 cup flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt
2 Tbsp melted butter, plus extra to cook
TO SERVE (optional)
Raspberry jam, strawberry Jam or other jam
Softly whipped cream or creme fraiche
Whisk together egg, milk, sugar and golden syrup until smooth. Sift in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt and whisk until smooth. Mix in melted butter. Stand for 10 minutes before cooking to allow gluten to relax.
Melt a little extra butter in a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat until it is just starting to brown and has a nutty aroma. Drop dessertspoonfuls of the mixture into the pan, allowing a little room between them.
When the base is lightly golden and bubbles start to form on the surface (2-3 minutes), flip to cook other side until the batter is fully cooked through in the centre. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.
Repeat in batches until all the batter is used. Serve with jam and cream or creme fraiche, if desired. Best eaten the same day they are made, or can be frozen.
Match these with ...
by Yvonne Lorkin
(Ultimate chocolate cake)
The Black Chook Sparkling Shiraz NV ($25)
I absolutely adore a good Aussie sparkling shiraz with anything remotely chocolatey. It's a sweet-yet-spicy, ferociously fruity, fizzy red wine designed to be consumed chilled. Now that may sound odd to some but believe me, when you've spent a hot, dusty day in the outback fending off goannas and rabid tree-bunnies, it's pretty much the most corka, rippa, cracka, pearla, bonza, grouse thing to sip. Made by talented winemaker Ben Riggs, this wine has intense plum, pepper and blackberry aromas, a rich, smooth spritzy texture and a robust, fruity finish.
Widely available in supermarkets.
(Never-fail pikelets)
Monmousseau Brut Etoile NV ($22)
One of my favourite combos in the world is nibbling my way through a pile of warm, fluffy, butter-smeared pikelets while sipping a classy, cashew-laced sparkling wine. Crafted from chenin blanc and ugni blanc grapes, the Monmousseau is a stylish treat for all those who love an elegantly creamy, nutty, slightly lemony sip without suffering a Champagne pricetag. There's a richness and cleansing citrus character to this fizz which is crafted deep below the earth, in 15km of ancient rock quarry chalk caves near Touraine, in France's Loire Valley. I love its mineral edge and hints of rising dough on the nose and palate. Amazing value.
mvauron.co.nz and selected New World supermarkets.
(Anzac biscuits)
Cassels Double Cream Milk Stout (6x 440ml $40)
Once you've sipped a hearty, rib-sticking stout with the cinnamony, oaty, golden syrupy goodness of Anzac biscuits, you won't be satisfied with just dunking them in tea ever again. Brewed with Fuggles and Green Bullet hops, a combo of chocolate, crystal, oat, roast black and vienna malts, alongside locally sourced lactose, this multi-award-winning, mochatastic example is intensely rich, velvet-smooth and beautifully biscuity. Sadly we lost brewery founder Alasdair Cassels to prostate cancer last weekend. An incredibly kind, generous, energetic businessman and family man, he famously restored and reinvigorated the broken brewery after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in just 100 days. He will be much missed.
cassels.nz and supermarkets everywhere.