Leavening

The process of making doughs and batters rise by filling them with gas, and the ingredients or methods that do it, such as yeast, baking powder and steam.

Leavening: A bowl of risen yeast dough beside small mounds of baking powder and baking soda
  • Food science and baking chemistry

Also called: rising, leavening agents

There are three main kinds. Biological leavening uses yeast or a sourdough starter, which produces carbon dioxide as it ferments. Chemical leavening uses baking soda or baking powder, which release gas when they meet moisture, acid or heat. Physical leavening relies on air beaten into eggs or creamed butter and on steam from water in the dough.

Most baked goods use more than one. A butter cake gets lift from creamed air and baking powder; puff pastry and choux rise almost entirely on steam. Too little leavening makes a dense, heavy crumb, while too much can make a cake rise and then collapse or taste soapy.

Bake it at VanillaGoods

Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Sodium Bicarbonate, Understanding Ingredients for the Canadian Baker (BCcampus open textbook)
  2. Baking Powder, Understanding Ingredients for the Canadian Baker (BCcampus open textbook)