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Baking

To Make Baking Powder

A homemade baking powder made from cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, and dry starch powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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To Make Baking Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Mix cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda, and dry starch powder together well.

Store

  1. Store the mixture in a dry place in a box for future use.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cream of tartar
Provides acidity that reacts with bicarbonate of soda to release carbon dioxide for rising.
Bicarbonate of soda
Supplies the base that reacts with the acid to produce gas, leavening the dough or batter.
Dry starch powder
Keeps the acid and base separated and dry so they react only when moistened, and absorbs moisture.

The step that matters

Store the mixture dry. Moisture lets the acid and base react early in the container, using up the gas-producing power before it reaches the batter. Keeping it dry preserves its leavening strength.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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