Baking Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Sift the tartaric acid, baking soda, and flour together 5 or 6 times through a fine sieve to thoroughly mix the ingredients.
Store the mixture tightly corked and use it like any 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 the baking soda to release carbon dioxide, which makes baked goods rise.
- Baking soda
- Supplies the alkali that reacts with the acid to produce carbon dioxide gas for leavening.
- Flour
- Provides the bulk that holds the mixture together and keeps the powder dry and stable.
The step that matters
Sifting the mixture thoroughly. Acid and baking soda must be evenly distributed so that every part of the dough or batter releases gas at a consistent rate. Uneven mixing leads to patches that rise unevenly or taste bitter or metallic.
“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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