I'm not the original poster who asked, but I'm still thanking all of you
for these excellent explanations. I had no idea. My last Penzey's
order hasn't come yet, but I did order Dutch process cocoa. At the
time, I was thinking that it sounded like better flavor and would
substitute for the Hershey's that I was about to run out of. The timing
of this thread is excellent. I'm glad I haven't had to learn the hard
way that they're not the same product.


Now. If I want to avoid those maddeningly inconsistent results, is
there some rule I should follow? I don't have a recipe in front of me,
but say I was making cookies that call for baking powder and natural
process cocoa. Would I need to add an acid to the recipe like sour
cream or vinegar to make it work?


Something comes to mind. I never bake from a mix, but long ago I
learned a tip in case I ever did. That was to substitute white wine for
the water when making chocolate cake from a mix. Apparently, something
acid is very good for bringing out the flavor of chocolate. I've
noticed that many recipes call for cultured buttermilk where another
(non-chocolate) recipe would call for fresh milk. Sour cream, yogurt
and vinegar show up in chocolate cake recipes. Is it possible that the
"add something acid to chocolate cake recipes for best flavor" rule is
based on Dutch process cocoa?


--Lia