Is yeast the same as baking powder?
Yeast is organic – a living single cell organism, it is a fungus and therefore a plant to be specific. It exists naturally in fruit and even floats about in the air. It feeds on sugar and produces Carbon Dioxide which will make bread rise. Baking powder is a mixture of chemicals, primarily baking soda which is Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3), some form of acid salt such as DiSodium Phosphate and some starch like rice flour. When this is mixed with water and heated it also gives off CO2. In that sense they perform similar functions in the baking world. However yeast is much more complex – it also produces alcohol – not a problem in baking as it simply evaporates – and other byproducts.
