Baking Powder

As a baker, some of these ingredients are very common to me in my kitchen. It seems second nature to pull certain bottles and tubs from the pantry when I am creating but until recently I had no idea what exactly was making up my food.

Baking powder and baking soda are so easily mistaken for each other. I remember Christmas baking with my mom and sister, year after year and without fail, we would always have to double and triple check the recipes to make sure we had read "soda" and not "powder" or vice versa.  It's easy to think that they'd be interchangeable seeing as they both are fine, white crystalline powders. Though they share some similarities, they are vastly different in application.

Also acting as a leavening agent, baking powder is most commonly made up of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), cream of tarter (potassium bitartrate) and corn starch. Occasionally, companies will use calcium acid phosphate or sodium aluminum sulfate instead of cream of tartar. Should you be trying to keep aluminum at bay in your diet, look for an aluminum free brand such as Rumford's,  Argo,  Bob's Red Mill, or Trader Joe's.

You may have noted in your grocery store browsing that baking powders are often classified as "double acting". This is referencing it's leavening abilities. Single acting reacts on contact with moisture while double acting reacts on contact with moisture and again during baking. There are two kinds of single acting baking powders, tartrate and phosphate, however they are not found in recipes written after the 1940s and often found only in gourmet food stores.

Chemistry plays a large role in baking and baking powder is no different, here is a breakdown of it's chemical equation:

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, has the chemical formula NaHCO3. Cream of tartar, also known as tartrate salt, has the formula KHC4H4O6. The reaction is:

NaHCO3 + KHC4H4O6 ----> KNaC4H4O6 + H2O + CO2

NaHCO3 + KHC4H4O6 ----> KNaC4H4O6 + H2O + CO2

Some baking powders contain sodium aluminum sulfate: NaAl(SO4)2. The reaction there is:

NaAl(SO4)2 + 3 NaHCO3 ----> Al(OH)3 + 2 Na2SO4 + 3 CO2

NaAl(SO4)2 + 3 NaHCO3 ----> Al(OH)3 + 2 Na2SO4 + 3 CO2

(copied from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/baking-powder.htm)

It never ceases to amaze me how such small amounts of seemingly useless powders can make or break a recipe. With the holidays fast approaching, we all will be whipping out our ingredients to create happy tummies and joyful smiles. Oh the fun that can be had when you view cooking and baking as an experiment. 

Next up is cream of tartar, the shining star of sugar cookies, but why?