Description
Baking powder is a very popular natural leavening agent used in baking. Honest to Goodness Baking Powder is aluminium-free and naturally free from gluten – made from bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), cream of tartar and organic rice flour.
Did you know you can make self-raising flour from plain flour using baking powder? Visit the “How to Use” tab to find out how.
Due to the way the chemicals react in our baking powder it is important that once you add the liquid to the recipe, you must place it in the oven as soon as possible. Read more about this below.
What Makes Our Baking Powder Different?
Originally baking powder was made from baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and creme of tartar (tatric acid), like ours is. For the chemists in the kitchen out there, the baking soda is alkaline and the creme of tartar is acidic. When the two are combined and liquid is added a chemical reaction happens, carbon dioxide is made and the product will rise (i.e. acts as a leavening agent). Quite a simple process really. However creme of tartar is quite costly, so the food manufacturing business took it upon themselves to find cheaper, alternative acids to creme of tartar. This is when aluminium-based acid products were investigated and used as alternatives or in addition to traditional baking powder. The aluminium based acids react with baking soda when heated above 50 degrees celsius and the leavening starts to happen.
You may detect a slightly metallic flavour if you use an aluminium-based baking powder so why not just use the good old original one!
