“What I didn’t understand at the time was that the dried apricot was treated with some type of unstable preservative, in addition to sulfite,” he says. “Although it tasted fine right out of the oven, as the cookie sat in the freezer, the elements in the apricot leached out into the cookie dough and changed the pH of the dough matrix; over time, it destroyed the leavening system.”
Inclusions like raisins, nuts, cinnamon, vegetables and dehydrated fruits can disrupt the original matrix of baked goods. Depending upon the inclusion, the leavening may need to be adjusted, and the moisture or pH of the inclusion might challenge the existing leavening system.