Make Your Own Baking Powder

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Another day, another discovery of a food that contains corn. Today, it’s baking powder. Simple baking powder. A required leavening agent in many baked goods. Thankfully, I found it before really ringing in the holiday baking season!

Corn seems to be in *everything* in the United States. The food (corn syrup, corn starch, and 5000 other forms). The gas (ethanol). Even the jokes (they’re corn-y… get it?)

OK, maybe the last one is just me.

So what to do about it? Make my own, of course.

What is a leavening agent and why do we need them?

Mostly when we bake things, we like them to rise and act fluffy. The “magic” that makes this happen is the leavening agent – it causes a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide bubbles that inflate through the batter to make it light and puffy instead of thick like a brick.

Baking soda and baking powder a two of the most common leavening agents. Baking soda (aka sodium bicarbonate) is a base, and it needs some kind of acid to activate. Recipes that already include some kind of acid such as lemon juice, buttermilk, or chocolate can use baking soda since the acids will react with the baking soda base and cause the batter to rise.

Recipes that don’t contain an acid ingredient need baking powder, which is basically baking soda pre-mixed with an acid. Why isn’t my can of baking soda levitating off of the counter, you might ask? Even though baking powder is the required base + acid, they need a liquid to kick off the chemical reaction.

TL;DR; If recipe has acid, use baking soda. If recipe doesn’t have acid, use baking powder. Sciencey stuff. yada yada.

So how DO you make your own baking powder?

Luckily, baking powder is really easy to make yourself. It takes just three simple ingredients (only two if you’re using it right away!), one of which comes in a box you probably already have at home, and the other two are ingredients that are easy to find if you don’t have them on hand.

The first one in the box is, of course, baking soda. Cream of tartar is usually easy to find in the spice aisle at the grocery store. Arrowroot might be near the cornstarch in the grocery store. However, in my case I found both arrowroot and cream of tartar in the bulk section at my store for a much cheaper cost per ounce than the prepackaged version.

Both are white powders so make sure to keep them labeled – especially if you plan to use them in other recipes! (I don’t think cream of tartar would make a very good thickener in a stew… but let me know if you’ve tried it!)

If you need just enough for a recipe, because you can’t find any in your pantry when you need it (as if that ever happens), divide the amount the recipe calls for by 3. Mix 2 parts cream of tartar to 1 part baking soda. So if your recipe calls for 1 tbsp baking powder, use 2 tsp cream of tartar and 1 tsp baking soda.

If you want to make a batch to keep on hand, you’ll also need a starch to keep the other two ingredients from clumping together, such as arrowroot (if you’re avoiding corn like me) or cornstarch. Mix two parts cream of tartar to one part each of baking soda and your favorite starch.

Mix them together thoroughly and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. I have one of those cute little half pint mason jars.

Wondering why I’m eliminating corn? Read more about my recent allergy diagnosis here .

Items used in this recipe:

Cover photo by Elle Hughes on Unsplash