How to Use leavening in a Sentence

leavening

noun
  • As a result, the amount of any leavening agent should be decreased in recipes.
    — Nik Pugmire, Better Homes & Gardens, 31 Aug. 2023
  • Crepes don't contain leavening, so the cooking process is quick.
    — Nik Pugmire, Better Homes & Gardens, 3 Aug. 2022
  • This acid often acts as a leavening agent when it is combined with baking soda.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Asad notes that most of these kits use leavening agents or eggs so that gingerbread doesn’t puff and expand like cookies.
    — Jessica Booth, Parents, 19 Nov. 2023
  • The tang and acidity of the dairy helps with leavening and creating that soft, tender crumb.
    — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 6 Sep. 2025
  • These can only be made with four ingredients -- flour, water, salt and yeast or leavening -- and must be baked on site.
    — CNN, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Add eggs, sour cream, oil, vanilla, vinegar (for leavening and a more tender cake), and 1 cup hot water.
    — Beth Branch, Country Living, 27 July 2023
  • Yet, for all that, a bit of unintentional leavening did occur.
    — Guy Trebay, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2018
  • Baking soda and baking powder are both common leavening agents for quick breads, cakes, cookies, and more.
    — Stacey Lastoe, Southern Living, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Baking soda and baking powder are both common leavening agents for quick breads, cakes, cookies, and more.
    — Stacey Lastoe, Southern Living, 30 Nov. 2025
  • Baking soda and baking powder are both common leavening agents for quick breads, cakes, cookies, and more.
    — Stacey Lastoe, Southern Living, 30 Nov. 2025
  • Reacts with the leavening agents to produce a rise in the pancakes, but also provides a gentle tang to the pancakes.
    — Liv Dansky, Southern Living, 13 Oct. 2024
  • The use of chemical leavenings, as baking powder and soda are called, helped create whole new categories of baked goods.
    — Jen Rose Smith, CNN, 2 May 2020
  • Eggs also affect the ratio of dry to wet ingredients, which changes the result even if those eggs don’t play a critical role in leavening.
    — Sarah Jampel, Bon Appétit, 18 Dec. 2020
  • And just like with matzoh, the cookies are prepared and baked within an 18-minute window to ensure no leavening can occur.
    — Leah Koenig, Washington Post, 31 Mar. 2023
  • Most extracts and leavening agents such as baking powder, baking soda, or salt need to be measured with a teaspoon or tablespoon.
    — Molly Allen, Southern Living, 7 Dec. 2023
  • For the topping, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, leavening, and salt, and add buttermilk and vanilla to make a batter.
    — Ann Taylor Pittman, Southern Living, 17 July 2023
  • But there is a leavening of sadness that offsets the saccharine and ensures that Ove and his humanity stays in your mind.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Jan. 2021
  • Without eggs, the cake will have less structure than more traditional styles of cake and will rely solely on leavening, baking soda in this case.
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 22 Feb. 2026
  • At Passover, eggs are used a lot in place of traditional leavening agents like flour, baking powder, and baking soda in many dessert recipes.
    — Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 29 Mar. 2024
  • One of the most popular types of bread is also one of the oldest — sourdough, or bread that's made with natural leavening rather than commercial yeast.
    — Amy Halloran, latimes.com, 5 Mar. 2018
  • Add eggs, vanilla, sour cream, oil, vinegar (for leavening and a more tender cake), and 1 cup hot water and mix with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth.
    — Beth Branch, Country Living, 27 July 2023
  • These products are a combination of starches, a leavening agent, and psyllium husk fiber (a gluten-free plant fiber that aids in thickening).
    — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 24 Aug. 2023
  • They can be used for thickening, emulsification, leavening, or to provide structure or liquid to a recipe.
    — Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 6 Feb. 2025
  • Only use buttermilk as an egg replacement in cakes that already have a leavening agent in them, as cakes that get all or most of their rise from eggs, won't rise with just buttermilk.
    — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 24 Aug. 2023
  • But in latter-day world seemingly bent on bitterness, Rockwell's work is welcome leavening.
    — Plain Dealer Guest Writer, cleveland.com, 18 Aug. 2017
  • For Stead, the winning recipe relies on butter as one of the star ingredients, blended into the flour and mixed with leavening agents, plus a bit of salt.
    — Leslie Kelly, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024
  • Quality on this list can mean local sourcing, seasonal ingredients and leavening of the dough.
    — Kayleigh Ruller, Charlotte Observer, 28 June 2024
  • For recipes where cocoa isn't reacting with leavening, like frosting, pudding, hot chocolate, or sauces, swapping is usually fine.
    — Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 7 May 2026
  • Ammonium bicarbonate is an ingredient used as a leavening agent in many Thai sweets and baked goods.
    — Austin Bush, Saveur, 18 Apr. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'leavening.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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