Today I decided to make a big batch of waffles so we could have frozen waffles in our fridge all week, in addition to a great Sunday breakfast. The only problem was that we were running low on baking supplies, so I had to scramble a bit to substitute for whole wheat flour (ground up oats to make oat flour), and we were also completely out of baking powder. Having a vague recollection that baking soda isn't as strong as baking powder, I decided to wing the substitution and put in a heaping tablespoon of baking soda for every 3 teaspoons of baking powder the recipe called for. Problem solved.
Until I tried the first waffle and found that it was inedible, with that baking soda-salt taste. Yuck. Keep in mind I tripled the recipe and was not about to let all that go to waste (as well as our breakfast).
So what's a gal to do? Basically I just added more of everything, especially the things that could mask the taste (sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin, banana)... and then added more of everything again, until the waffles were fine (though if you looked for it, you could notice the baking soda aftertaste).
If you start with a tripled recipe, and then add more of everything to make it edible, what do you get? A LOT of waffles. To be exact, we fed four people this morning and still have 21 waffles in our freezer.
P.S. Even the salty trial waffles got put to good use as frozen dog treats....
