Raising Agents
The four ways a mixture is made to rise: chemical agents like baking powder, mechanical methods that trap air, steam from the moisture in a mixture, and biological raising with yeast.
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Making food rise 🧁
Cakes, breads and pastries would be flat and heavy without a raising agent. A raising agent makes a mixture rise by adding a gas, or by trapping one, that expands when the food is heated. As the food cooks, the mixture sets around the gas and holds the light, airy shape. There are four kinds of raising agent to learn.
Words for raising 🔑
Learn these four terms before you study the four kinds of raising agent.
Four kinds of raising 🆚
Every raising agent belongs to one of these four kinds.
Grade 9 thinking 💡
A top answer names the correct kind of raising agent for the food and says which gas does the work. For bread, say yeast ferments to make carbon dioxide. For a whisked sponge, say air is trapped by whisking. Never just say the food rises when cooked.
Match the kind of raising 🔗
- chemical
- mechanical
- steam
- biological
- releases carbon dioxide from baking powder or bicarbonate of soda
- traps air by whisking, creaming or sieving
- water in the mixture turns to steam and expands
- yeast ferments to make carbon dioxide
Match the food to its raising agent 🧩
- a loaf of bread
- a whisked sponge cake
- scones
- choux pastry
- yeast, a biological raising agent
- air trapped by whisking, a mechanical method
- baking powder, a chemical raising agent
- steam from the moisture in the mixture
What does a raising agent do? ❓
What does a raising agent do?
- It makes a mixture rise using a gas that expands when heated.
- It adds flavour to the finished dish.
- It keeps the food safe to eat for longer.
Spot the mechanical methods ✅
Select the TWO mechanical methods of raising.
- Whisking eggs and sugar to trap air.
- Creaming butter and sugar together.
- Adding baking powder.
- Adding yeast.
Order the rising of bread 🪜
An interactive activity.
Summarise the raising agents 📝
A _____ agent makes a mixture rise. A chemical raising agent such as baking powder produces the gas _____. A _____ raising agent traps air by whisking or creaming. Steam works because moisture in the mixture turns to _____ when it is very hot. A biological raising agent uses _____, which ferments to make gas.
Count the kinds 🔢
An interactive activity.
Find the chemical agents 🖍️
An interactive activity.
Which kind of raising? 🧭
An interactive activity.
Explain the rising ✍️
An interactive activity.