Channel your inner grandmother from the back roads of the southern United States, or a village in Scotland or wherever grandmas may be found… and make your own baking powder.
This sounds kind of nuts, I know, but has really made a big difference to my baked goods. I recall reading an article a few years ago when a young southern chef was being interviewed about why his southern cooking was so good, particularly his biscuits. He said it was because he was taught to make fresh baking powder. This made no sense to me at the time as I’d only ever seen baking powder in the yellow-and-brown jars on the supermarket shelf. I continued to wonder on and off what “fresh baking powder” meant – a freshly opened jar? a refridgerated jar?
I ran out of baking powder a few weeks ago and, in my usual panic, searched online for a substitute. As it turns out, I had all the ingredients on hand to make my own. If you don’t have cream of tartar, why not buy some to try this out (supermarket or bulk store).
Baking Powder from About.com Prep Time: 2 minutes Total Time: 2 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon corn starch (optional)
Preparation:
Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together until well combined. Use immediately. Yield: One tablespoon of baking powder.
To store baking powder: Add a teaspoon of corn starch to the mixture, and stir. This will absorb any moisture from the air, and prevent the baking powder from reacting before you need it. Store in an air-tight container.
Did You Know? Most commerically-produced baking powder contains aluminum–sodium aluminum sulfate to be exact. Make your own baking powder, and keep your baked goods aluminum-free.
Aside from being healthy by eliminated aluminium, I have also noticed that this small-batch baking powder method makes your baked goods very, very fluffy.
I haven’t made biscuits yet but I will try it out soon enough.
Cheers!
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