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Baking

Baking Powdek

A homemade baking powder made from starch, baking soda, and tartaric acid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Baking Powdek

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Powder and sift the starch, baking soda, and tartaric acid several times.

  2. Store the mixture in an airtight container to keep it fresh.

  3. Use this homemade baking powder as a reliable alternative to store-bought.

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

Starch
Absorbs moisture and keeps the powder dry, so it stays stable in storage.
Baking soda
Provides the alkaline base that releases carbon dioxide to make batters rise.
Tartaric acid
Reacts with baking soda in liquid to release gas, giving lift and a slight tang.

The step that matters

Sifting the mixture several times. Baking soda and tartaric acid must be evenly distributed; uneven clumps can react unevenly, causing patchy rise or bitter spots in 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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