Home Made Baking Powder

You know how there are some things you just never, ever would think of making yourself?  Like Coca-Cola?:=)  Though I did find a recipe for it once that called for 30 lbs of sugar!  Well, I was flipping thru a recent cookbook purchase and came across this recipe for home-made baking powder.  I was amazed and intrigued.  Who would ever have thought to do this?  But back in granny's day, they did. 

This is incredibly simple.  Only 3 ingredients, and a bit of sifting.  I am halving the recipe, 'cos I'm just not sure how this will turn out.  And really who needs that much baking powder?  Grannies must have been baking all day every day, back in the day:=)  Alison gives no temperature or timing for the drying-out part, so I have made a stab at it.  As we don't live in the damp environs of Victorian Derbyshire, I think this will be sufficient.

funnily enough, I came upon this ad. for baking powder the other day

ingredients:


110g. (4 oz.) of cream of tartar

55g. (2 oz.) of bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tbs rice flour



Method:


Sift the 3 ingredients into a small mixing bowl

Give it a good stir

Spread it out on a baking tray

Place in the oven to dry at 100C for 6 minutes - the powdery mix should feel warm to the touch

Take it out of the oven; give it another stir and leave to cool down on the tray

Grab 2 mixing bowls and sift the mixture twice

Give it another good stir before spooning into very clean and sterilised small jars

ingredients gathered

sift the 3 ingredients together 

tip into the baking tray to dry out in the oven

give it a good stir and allow to cool

a cornucopia of baking powder 

Now I just have to try it in some baking, and see if it actually works.

Recipe is from Alison Uttley's book Old Farmhouse Recipes; a collection of recipes and stories based on her childhood growing up on a Derbyshire farm.  Her mum made everything from scratch, using their own farm produce, eggs, meat etc.  Alison Uttley lovingly took the recipes from her mum's handwritten recipe book, and turned them into this charming collection.  A real family treasure.

you can guess what this is:=)