Baking Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Powder the ingredients and sift them together several times to ensure they are well mixed.
Always mix the baking powder with the flour before adding other ingredients.
Use the baking powder immediately after mixing with wet ingredients to ensure it rises properly.
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 the acid that reacts with baking soda to release carbon dioxide for rising.
- Baking soda
- Supplies the base that reacts with the acid to produce gas, causing dough or batter to rise.
- Cornstarch
- Absorbs moisture and keeps the acid and base separated so the powder stays stable in storage.
The step that matters
Use the baking powder immediately after mixing with wet ingredients. Once the acid and base meet liquid, they begin reacting and releasing carbon dioxide. Waiting lets the gas escape before baking, so the rise is weaker.
“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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