Baking Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Powder and sift the starch, baking soda, and tartaric acid several times.
Store the mixture in an airtight container to keep it fresh.
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
- Baking soda
- Provides the carbon dioxide source that makes the mixture leaven batters when activated by moisture.
- Tartaric acid
- Reacts with baking soda in the presence of moisture to release carbon dioxide gas for rising.
- Starch
- Keeps the acid and baking soda dry and separated so they do not react until used.
The step that matters
Sift the mixture several times. Thorough powdering and sifting spreads the acid and baking soda evenly, so every part of the finished batter rises uniformly. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of acid or soda that cause patchy rising and off flavors.
“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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