Baking Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Sift tartaric acid, baking soda, and flour together five or six times through a fine sieve to mix thoroughly.
Store the mixture in a well-corked container.
Use the same quantity as you would for other baking powder.
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
- Tartaric acid
- Reacts with baking soda to release carbon dioxide, which makes batters rise.
- Baking soda
- Supplies the alkali that reacts with the acid to produce gas for leavening.
- Patent flour
- Acts as a dry filler that keeps the acid and alkali separated and evenly spread until use.
The step that matters
Sifting the mixture thoroughly. Sifting five or six times spreads the acid and baking soda evenly through the flour. If they stay clumped, some spots react too strongly while others barely rise, leaving uneven leavening in the baked goods.
“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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