A leavening agent (also leavening or leaven) is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action which lightens and softens the finished product. The leavening agent—biological, chemical, or even mechanical—reacts with moisture, heat, acidity, or other triggers to produce gas (usually carbon dioxide and sometimes ethanol) that becomes trapped as bubbles within the dough. When a dough or batter is mixed, the starch in the flour mixes with the water in the dough to form a matrix (often supported further by proteins like gluten or other polysaccharides like pentosans or xanthan gum), then gelatinizes and "sets"; the holes left by the gas bubbles remain.
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