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Baking

Home-made Baking Powder

A homemade baking powder made by sifting cream of tartar, baking soda, and cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Home-made Baking Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Make the baking powder

  1. Sift all ingredients together in a flour sifter at least 10 times.

Store and use

  1. Store in a tight can.

  2. Use as you would store-bought baking powder.

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

Cream of tartar
Provides the acid that reacts with baking soda to produce carbon dioxide for rising.
Baking soda
Supplies the alkaline base that reacts with the acid to release gas, leavening baked goods.
Cornstarch
Absorbs moisture and keeps the powder dry so the acid and base do not react early in storage.

The step that matters

Sifting thoroughly. Sifting at least 10 times blends the three powders evenly. Uneven mixing can leave pockets of acid or base, causing patchy rising and off flavors 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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