Thanks very much if you can clarify what the correct translation of 'baking soda' would be, so the dictionary can be corrected, and so my recipe will come out. What I know (as a baker) is that when a recipe calls for baking soda, you don't want 'baking powder'. My Belgian friend suggests that a better translation would be 'natriumbicarbonate' (in Belgium they call it 'natriumbicarbonaat vor voeding' which is not 'bakpoeder' (baking powder) nor 'sodakristalken' which I'm told is used for cleaning). Chemically speaking, baking soda is basic, and reacts with the acidity of fermented milk to leaven Irish soda bread, and make it rise (without yeast). Baking powder (a leavening agent) doesn't have the same chemical reaction with buttermilk (or yogurt) that baking soda has, and is used differently in baking. Sodium hydrogen carbonate is a sodium salt of carbonic acid and belongs to the hydrogen carbonates and is also known under the common names food soda. In fact, baking powder contains bicarbonate, but also cream of tartar and starch. But 'backpulver' is also the translation of 'baking powder', which is not the same thing. Natron and baking soda are important types of chemical compounds having many uses in the household. When I look in the Word Reference dictionary (and also in the Collins English-German dictionary), the translation is given as 'backpulver'.

And specifically I was trying to translate an ingredient: baking soda, or bicarbonate of soda, or sodium bicarbonate. I was trying to explain a recipe of mine (Irish Soda Bread) in English, to a German speaking Belgian friend (who also speaks English, but not specialized baking English).

Baking soda natron