Potash 40 g

Potash

Potash is a leavening agent for various flat pastries such as cookies, Guetzli, Biberli or gingerbread. In particular, potash is preferably used for doughs containing sugar, such as honey cake. The leavening agent, similar to yeast or sourdough, ensures that even heavy doughs rise nicely. Potash differs from sourdough and yeast in several respects. Unlike the other leavening agents, the dough will rise in width rather than in height. In fact, gingerbread is known precisely for keeping the cake flat, but still making it nice and airy. Just as with cornstarch, potash must be dissolved with water, milk, egg white or cream. This ensures better distribution in the dough. 

What happens in the gingerbread with potash

An airy, light and delicious gingerbread dough is perfect with potash. The raising agent forms a gas during baking. The gas ensures wide, flat pores, which is why the gingerbread does not become tough or too hard. If you omit potash, your dough would not rise during baking and thus remain a compact dough. 

Potash and staghorn salt

Potash is potassium carbonate. The name comes from the method of enriching the potassium carbonate from plant ash and seaweed ash. Here the ash is washed out with water and then evaporated in "pots", i.e. pots. Nowadays, the majority of potash salt is found in our neighbors in Germany, which is why this potash is also produced in Germany. Essentially, potash and staghorn salt have the same effect. Deer horn salt used to be obtained by heating finely shaved deer horn. This is because deer horn is not made of horn, as the name suggests, but mainly of bone. Bones have a very high proportion of nitrogen, as do hooves, claws and leather. Later, these were also used to enrich leavening agents. More information about deer horn salt you will find here. In old recipes, the mixture of both leavening agents is recommended. If you want to do the same, make sure that both substances are dissolved separately with the liquid and added to the dough. Even if the two substances are very similar, the reaction of the two substances in direct contact could reduce the leavening effect. When using potash, the resting time must be strictly observed. During the resting period, some lactic acid and acetic acid is formed. Together with the acidity of the honey, the driving effect can develop optimally.

Potash and baking powder

Resting achieves the perfect leavening and at the same time the dough becomes a little easier to work with. After mixing the ingredients, the gingerbread dough is very sticky. Resting therefore ensures that the dough dries slightly and no longer sticks so strongly to the hands or work surface. Nevertheless, you should flour all utensils well. This is also a reason why baking powder is disliked for gingerbread. Baking powder is not a good alternative. Baking powder is often added to cake doughs to make the dough rise nicely. Cake doughs are usually baked immediately after mixing the ingredients and do not require a resting time. However, baking powder unfortunately mainly tolerates only a few minutes in combination with moisture. In a cake batter, the baking powder is also only folded in with the flour at the very end. This way, the baking powder is only moist for a very short time and the cake can be put into the oven right away. If you were to use baking powder, the raising power would simply dissolve during the resting time. 

Indication and storage of potash

Potash is odorless and tasteless and absorbs the taste and smell of the pastry excellently. Unfortunately, too well! Do not store the raising agent in the spice cupboard, otherwise you will have all kinds of spices in the raising agent and later also in your pastry. Otherwise, no moisture should get to potash, because even a dough with the raising agent should stand for about 1-2 days. 

Delicious, airy, gingerbread!