Baking Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Mix bi-carbonate of soda, tartaric acid, and pounded sugar very thoroughly.
Use 1 teaspoon of this mixture for every pound of flour.
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
- Bi-carbonate of soda
- Provides the alkaline base that releases carbon dioxide gas to make dough or batter rise.
- Tartaric acid
- Reacts with the soda in the presence of moisture, producing the gas that leavens baked goods.
- Pounded sugar
- Adds sweetness and dilutes the reactive powders so they blend evenly into the mixture.
The step that matters
Mixing the three ingredients very thoroughly. The soda and tartaric acid only react when they meet moisture. If they are unevenly mixed, some spots will have too much acid or soda, causing uneven rising and off flavours in the finished bake.
“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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