Hi Chef Jacob,
Have you seen a Baker's Percentage of how much caustic is needed or pH required for a maillard reaction to occur in a recipe?
Let us use water as 100%, as an example, what pH or percentage is required for a maillard reaction to occur?
Baking Soda has a pH of around 9 pH and Lye has a pH of around 14 pH.
What opened the brain channel up for me was Mucho's post for the baked bean recipe. The recipe brought back old memories of using food grade sodium hydroxide for German soft, hard pretzels and bagels.
Thanks