Whats the purpouse of using Baking soda for baking, and can it be used to subbstitute Yeast?

Question

I am trying to bake a bread and all I have is Baking Soda.

Answer 1

No, unfortunatley you can't substitute Baking Soda for Yeast and actually there is no substitute for yeast.
Baking soda does make things lighter and give some loft to baked items, but it does not make dough rise.

Sorry

Answer 2

You can make biscuits and dessert breads with baking soda, but a true "risen" bread will not work without the yeast.

Yeast is a living microorganism, which, in the presence of moisture, sugar, and flour, will feed and reproduce. By-products of this biological activity are the tiny bubbles that puff up the dough. Yeast doughs need long periods of rest time covered at room temperature to rise, making a light fluffy bread when baked.
If your yeast dies, or you don't let it rise long enough, your bread will not rise and will be heavy and doughy.

Baking soda produces bubbles like yeast, but by a different process. It is a chemical reaction triggered when the soda gets moist. Also, acidic ingredients (such as buttermilk) help it to bubble up. Once mixed into the moist ingredients, you ought to go on and bake a soda based bread really soon, because otherwise it could fizz out and the bread also remains flat and yucky. It will not rise "more" if left alone at room temperature, it will just slowly lose its potency.

Baking powder is a combination of baking soda and another leavening agent. It differs from baking soda in that it is at least partially heat activated, making it easier to handle in biscuits and other things that may not be able to rush into an oven as soon as they are mixed.

Neither baking soda or baking powder are living organisms, the way yeast is.

Answer 3

to my understanding the yeast ferments the dough through the bacteria present. The dough thus becomes soft and spongy.

You can use baking soda in place of yeast. what baking soda does is that it releases carbon di oxide which tries to escape and in the process makes the dough porous and soft.

Answer 4

you make -short bread -look that up on food dot com or irish soda bread or bisquits are good flour self riseing two cups- two tablespoons lard butter or shortening or margarine- now mix with a fork till the flour looks like corn meal now turn on the oven to 425F and then add cool water or milk top the bisquits till they are like a ball and sticky then pour a little flour oveer the ball of dough and tear out a small handful of dough pat flat about 1/2 inch thick and keep flour on your fingers to handle the sticky dough fill the cookie sheet ungreased with the bisquits now bake about 15 minutes and check thm for brown edges and slightly thight tops you've made homemade bisquits add cheese next time for chedar bisquits use buttermilk sometimes martha white makes good flour selfriseing for this