Can I substitute baking soda for kansui powder?
Related: What does kansui do to dough in noodle making?
I'm looking to make my own 拉面-style noodles. I've read up a lot about kansui and making your own kansui with a powder mix of sodium and potassium carbonates. I've also seen some recipes that substitute kansui powder with baking soda.
Can I use baking soda to substitute for kansui? If so, in what proportions? If not, what other common ingredients can I use to substitute?
Best Answer
Harold McGee tackled alkaline noodles a while back. He found that baking baking soda actually changes it from sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate. This is a reasonable substitute for the kansui called for in alkaline noodles and can be substituted 1:1 in recipes. The noodles may not get AS yellow as they would with both alkalines present in kansui but it's a small price to pay for not having to hunt down that ingredient.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/dining/15curious.html?_r=0
The key part:
Just spread a layer of soda on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake it at 250 to 300 degrees for an hour. You’ll lose about a third of the soda’s weight in water and carbon dioxide, but you gain a stronger alkali. Keep baked soda in a tightly sealed jar to prevent it from absorbing moisture from the air. And avoid touching or spilling it. It’s not lye, but it’s strong enough to irritate.
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Quick Answer about "Can I substitute baking soda for kansui powder?"
These days, you can find kansui in many Asian markets and on Amazon. It can be replaced by a homemade version made from two extremely common ingredients – baking soda and water.What is a substitute for Kansui powder?
You can make a fair substitute by mixing 1 tsp. baking soda with 4 tsp. water.How do you make kansui with baking soda?
It's very easy, and inexpensive, to prepare a homemade version as a substitute. You only need two ingredients for homemade lye water: Baked baking soda and water. Mix them at a 1:4 ratio. Then you're ready to use it!Can you use baking soda instead of lye water?
You can substitute baking soda for baking powder. Just use: 1/3 teaspoon baking soda for every 1 teaspoon baking powder.Quick way to make Kansui for Ramen Noodles
More answers regarding can I substitute baking soda for kansui powder?
Answer 2
I "baked" baking soda for about one hour, low oven. It changes its chemical structure to sodium carbonate which is simply more alkali.
Suggestion, kansui makes fabulous spaghetti and noodles (even some Italians add baking soda to their pasta mixture). I use 1/4 teaspoon per cup of regular all purpose flour, or 1 teaspoon per three cups, and the results are outstanding.
Answer 3
No. Sodium bicarbonate isn't alkaline enough. You won't have traditional ramen unless you were to use sodium carbonate. You will end up with a noodle with less bite if you were to use baking soda.
Just bake the sodium bicarbonate at 400-425F (not in a low oven like another poster is claiming) for 30 mins to an hour till its all become grainy rather than fluffy. Stir this into the water you will use for the noodles and you will have a mock kansui.
Answer 4
I'm not sure about the exact proportions, but nearly every recipe I've seen written in English just uses baking soda. This page seems to have a good looking recipe for ramen that uses baking soda, so maybe base your proportions off of it. ?? recipe
Answer 5
I too have tried several "recipes" all different. But I have found adding Bicarbonate of Soda to pasts and ramen does firm the bite up noticeably.
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