Best Baking Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure all ingredients are dry and finely pulverized separately in a clean porcelain mortar.
Sift all ingredients together repeatedly until perfectly mixed.
Store and use
Store in well-corked bottles.
Use 2 teaspoons of this baking powder for each pint 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
- Tartaric acid
- Provides the acid that reacts with bicarbonate of soda to release carbon dioxide gas.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Supplies the alkaline component that produces carbon dioxide gas for rising when combined with acid.
- Dry baked flour
- Dilutes and separates the reactive ingredients and absorbs moisture, helping keep the powder stable.
The step that matters
Keeping every ingredient dry and mixing thoroughly. Moisture lets the acid and bicarbonate react early, releasing gas before baking and weakening the leavening power. Repeated sifting spreads the ingredients evenly so each measure rises consistently.
“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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