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Both yeast and baking powder are used to gas-fill the pastry, make it expand and thus make it soft and fluffy.

Using yeast is rather inconvenient - it can be dead already or if the yeast is submerged in too hot water it can die and also waiting for yeast to work to let it gas-fill the pastry before baking is also not that convenient. Looks like the baking powder is more convenient - it can be stored for ages, can be mixed with hot water, baking can be started immediately after mixing the pastry.

Why is yeast used then? What are those advantages of yeast tham make people use yeast and not the baking powder?

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    I am interested what recipe you are looking at that calls for yeast where baking powder would work. Yeast risen pancakes would fall into this category but it seems to me that the two are not so often interchangeable.
    – Sobachatina
    Nov 4, 2010 at 13:02
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    @sharptooth - could you provide your definition of pastry? I've never actually seen a recipe for what I think of as a pastry (small sweet baked good) that uses yeast.
    – justkt
    Nov 4, 2010 at 13:03
  • @Sobachatina - I linked in my answer a yeast cake - try it and see how delicious it is. It isn't exactly a pastry, though.
    – justkt
    Nov 4, 2010 at 13:04
  • @justkt - I will try that cake recipe. That looks delicious.
    – Sobachatina
    Nov 4, 2010 at 13:08
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    @justkt, a Hungarian nut or poppy seed roll usually uses a yeast-risen dough, but is a pastry by any reasonable definition, not a bread.
    – Marti
    Nov 4, 2010 at 13:47

4 Answers 4

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Baking powder, especially if too great a quantity is used, adds an unpleasant flavor to a baked good. Even in an appropriate quantity it can be noticeable and it certainly doesn't do anything to enhance the flavor. Many baked goods traditionally don't use a chemical leavener at all, but instead rely on technique. Creaming butter and sugar together or whipping egg whites was historically used to make cakes which rose solely based on the bubble network that was created.

Yeast, on the other hand, creates a delightful flavor that you associate with your favorite crusty loaf of bread. Yeast can be used not only in making bread but also in some excellent cakes (St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, for example, although many "knock off" recipes cheat here and miss out on the true goodness). Yeast also provides a significantly different texture during the rising due to the intentional creation of a gluten network (usually something you absolutely don't want in a quick bread or quick cake) — you don't get a crumb with big, airy holes from baking powder or baking soda with an acid.

Also, in my experience baking powder lasts six months in the pantry and yeast lasts at least six months in the fridge. The shelf life is not so different.

If yeast scares you, you may want to check out some of the proponents of the no-knead bread technique.

For a lot more information on this subject, there is a recent publication that covers all sorts of leavening agents.

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  • Well said- I forgot about the texture difference.
    – Sobachatina
    Nov 4, 2010 at 13:07
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    Note on the baking powder: if you use a sodium-based powder, it will taste like sodium carbonate (very unpleasant). Ammonium carbonate, however, disintegrates into nitrogen, CO2 and water, all of which are completely tasteless.
    – Mischa Arefiev
    Nov 7, 2012 at 9:56
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    Interestingly, raw baking yeast is perfectly edible, some people like it very much (it has a specific "cold" flavor) and it's rather healthy. For drinking mix it in a cup with sugar, roughly 2-3 parts yeast per 1 part sugar. (don't add water. As unbelievable as it seems as you mix the two solids together and stir vigorously they turn liquid.)
    – SF.
    Nov 5, 2013 at 11:16
  • Good point that yeast is healthy, and it is also a tasty component of many good beers.
    – Martin Peters
    Jan 11, 2016 at 14:23
  • Yeast gives a strong bready flavour, which may be unsuitable for many preparations. And it's less and is less digestible.
    – skan
    Jun 1, 2020 at 14:57
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First of all- yeast is not nearly as complicated to use as your question would seem to imply. Yes it is a living organism but it is a very simple one. Active dry yeast will stay viable for years in the freezer and it is easy enough to avoid adding it to water that is too hot for it.

It can be inconvenient to wait for yeast products to rise but there are two very important benefits:

1) Yeast will keep producing CO2 as long as there are sugars to eat- this means that you can raise tougher doughs- like bread dough- where baking powder just wouldn't have enough lift.

2) Flavor. This is the big one. Baking powder tastes gross. At best you can't taste it at all. Yeast risen products have a distinct complex flavor that you can't get any other way.

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    I made bacon cheese bread this week using a baking soda-based recipe. My dad's recipe I grew up with, apparently, is yeast based. After talking him I determined all other things were essentially the same (quantity of bacon, cheese) - and the taste difference was HUGE. The baking soda version was comparably boring and flavorless, leaning towards...I don't want to say bad, because it was edible and still ok, but it didn't hold a candle to the yeast version I was used to.
    – stephennmcdonald
    Nov 4, 2010 at 14:02
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I've been using yeast in more recipes because my wife is on a medically necessary low-sodium diet. Baking powder/soda is pure salt, therefore not great for sodium. Using yeast instead of high sodium ingredients allows her to enjoy her usual bread and cupcakes without adding a huge number to her sodium intake. Most store-bought breads have increased sodium just for shelf-life so homemade anything is better if you need lower sodium but playing with yeast has increased the number of "normal" recipes we can enjoy.

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    You're right that by default it's got a lot of sodium in it - though other formulations are possible based on ammonium carbonate - but "salt" in a culinary sense refers to sodium chloride which isn't present in baking powders. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, "pure salt"
    – Chris H
    Jul 13, 2022 at 15:19
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because yeast if added more will not spoil but baking soda will spoil

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    Can you clarify what you mean by this? Are you saying that the baking soda itself will spoil, or it will spoil your recipe?
    – SourDoh
    Nov 4, 2013 at 16:28
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    ...or that it will affect whether the baked goods spoil?
    – Cascabel ♦
    Nov 4, 2013 at 21:34

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