How to Make Baking Powder at Home

Baking powder is essential for all sorts of baking projects, serving as a leavening agent that helps give loft to all sorts of baked goods, from cookies to cake and biscuits. It loses its effectiveness over time, so if you are not a regular baker, you might get into a project only to find that the can in your pantry is well past its best by date. Old baking powder doesn’t perform well; while it will still give baked goods some rise, it may not be enough. And, you can’t just add extra baking powder to boost its leavening power, since when used in large amounts, baking powder can give your food a metallic taste. But there are many options to sub in for baking powder. Here's what to do:

How to make baking powder

Baking powder is a blend of a base  — sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda — mixed with an acid — often cream of tartar — and occasionally a bit of cornstarch to prevent clumping. It requires moisture and heat to activate. If you have cream of tartar and baking soda you can make your own baking powder. Just use a 2:1 ratio of cream of tartar to baking soda, then measure as you would for baking powder. 

How to make a baking powder substitute

Cream of tartar is the acidic ingredient in baking powder, but many products can bring the right amount of acid to the party for your baked goods. Yogurt, buttermilk, sour milk and molasses all have great acidity, and with the addition of some baking soda, can be a good substitute for the leavening power you’d want from baking powder. Because they are liquids, you will need to reduce the amount of liquid in your overall recipe to adjust for texture. To replace one teaspoon of baking powder, you can mix half a cup of plain yogurt or buttermilk or sour milk, or a quarter cup of molasses with a quarter teaspoon of baking soda. If you are using molasses, you may want to reduce your sugar content slightly to adjust for the extra sweetness. 

Club soda, with all its bubbles, is a great way to bring some leavening power to your dishes. I use club soda instead of water or broth in my matzo balls for extra lightness, and it is terrific in pancakes. Just replace any water or milk with club soda for that bit of boost. Not a lot of power here, so don’t use it in cakes or other baking recipes.

Lemon juice and vinegar will both give you the acidity you need for baking. Add half a teaspoon of either lemon juice or vinegar and a quarter teaspoon of baking soda for every teaspoon of baking powder called for in your recipe.

Whipped egg whites leaven all sorts of baked goods, so if you are out of baking powder, but your recipe includes eggs, separate the yolks and whites, whip the whites to soft peaks then fold them into the batter to give you the added lift.

Finally, it can be helpful to keep self-rising flour in your pantry. This all purpose flour is boosted with both baking powder and salt, so you can sub it in for the flour in your recipe, omit any other baking powder and baking soda and reduce the salt by half, and you may find you don’t need any other leaveners.