Curious Cook in the New York Times: Baked baking soda for pretzels and noodles

In today's column I write about the un-acids, ingredients that are alkaline and give unusual flavors and textures to a small but significant set of foods that includes pretzels, tortillas and tamales, Oreo cookies, and ramen-style noodles. Baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, is a weak alkali and not good for much more than leavening baked goods. But a brief baking in the oven converts soda into soda ash, sodium carbonate, a much stronger alkali and a good substitute for lye, which is so strong that it's best handled with gloves and goggles.