Tips for finding the healthiest baking powder at the store with optional recipe for quickly mixing it up in one minute yourself for pennies per serving.
Healthy baking powder is a must in the kitchen of a savvy cook. Used as a leavening agent, baking powder lightens the texture and increases the volume of baked goods such as muffins, cakes, pancakes, and cookies.
It works by releasing carbon dioxide bubbles into the wet batter in a chemical reaction. This process expands and helps to add optimal texture to the mixture.
Fast-Acting vs Slow-Acting
Baking powder can be fast-acting, slow-acting, or both.
Slow-acting baking powders work with the heat of the oven to provide a late rise to the dough.
Fast-acting baking powders work at room temperature and become effective immediately upon addition to the wet batter on the countertop.
Double-Acting
Most commercial baking powders are double-acting.
This means that they work both on the counter and in the oven providing an extra measure of reliability and consistency to the final product.
Baking Powder Contaminants
Many people do not realize that baking powder can contain undesirable ingredients and even toxins.
Aluminum
The problem with the double-acting baking powders is that they usually contain aluminum in the form of sodium aluminum sulfate or sodium aluminum phosphate.
Slow-acting baking powders have the same problem unless the acid salt used is sodium acid pyrophosphate.
Fast-acting, low-temperature baking powders contain just monocalcium phosphate, cream of tartar, potassium bicarbonate or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and starch.
This is typically the choice of health-conscious cooks trying to avoid aluminum in all its forms.
Aluminum consumption has been linked with the development of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The use of aluminum-based acid salts to leaven the dough can also sometimes give a slightly metallic taste to the final product.
Choosing an “aluminum-free” baking powder does not eliminate all health risks as is commonly thought.
GMOs and Starch
Starch is typically added to these fast-acting, aluminum-free powders to keep the baking powder from clumping over time.
Corn starch is the starch of choice which unless organic, is most likely derived from genetically modified corn.
I did a survey of baking powders at my local health food stores recently and did not find one brand that used organic corn starch.
I did find one that used nonGMO potato starch. But, if one is on a low-carb diet, this baking powder is not a great choice either.
Good news! Rumford baking powder has a new formulation using GMO-free corn starch.
Many other brands are still using GMO ingredients, however, so read ingredients carefully!
It seems the best solution all around is to make your own! Baking powder takes seconds to mix and is fresh and potent each time you need it.
How to Test Commercial Baking Powder for Potency
This eliminates another problem with store-bought baking powders that lose strength over time.
To test effectiveness, stir a teaspoon into a small cup of hot (not boiling) water.
If it fizzes it is still usable. If it does not fizz, throw it away.
Make Your Own! (aluminum-free, starch-free, nonGMO)
Check out the recipe for making healthy baking powder below. It is so simple to make yourself and cheaper too!
You might be wondering why you haven’t been doing this all along!
One important tip for making DIY baking powder.
Do not make a large amount and store it in the pantry, as it will absorb moisture and get hard.
Make only as much as you need for each recipe.
Baking Powder Recipe
How to make baking powder in less than a minute.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 2 tsp lemon juice optional. Use instead of the cream of tartar if you are on the GAPS or SCD diets.
Instructions
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Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar in a small bowl.
-
Use immediately.
Recipe Notes
Note that if your recipe includes yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, lemon juice or vinegar, there is no need to mix up baking powder. Just use baking soda alone and the acidity already included in the recipe will activate it to provide the desired dough leavening effect with no cream of tartar.
I’m allergic to corn and was told by a Mayo Clinic immunologist that there is really no such thing as non-GMO corn anymore. (My desperate hope was that it was the genetic modification that was causing the allergic reactions.)
There’s a brand that’s kosher which uses potato starch. And Hain of course.
Great info Sarah.
I haven’t seen aluminum free BP since Covid started.
Yes, homemade baking powder is so easy to make. If you want it to keep longer, just add the same amount of arrowroot as baking soda (to mimic the cornstarch in commercial brands).
For really crisp cookies, though, baker’s ammonia (ammonium bicarbonate) seems to be best. According to Cook’s Illustrated: “When we tried trading baker’s ammonia for baking powder in a recipe for crisp sugar cookies, we found that not only can the two products be used interchangeably, but the baker’s ammonia produced a lighter, crunchier crumb.”
Another interesting thing is that, according to Cook’s Illustrated, commercial baking powder doesn’t really work in waffles. Why not? Because double-acting baking powder requires oven temperatures in order to produce a full rise. Because waffles cook so quickly, the “second rise” is unlikely to be fully activated. I wonder if the same thing would apply to pancakes too?
Anyway, it seems to me that the commercial stuff, like Rumford, is best used for cakes, quick breads, etc., which typically stay in the oven for longer than 10 minutes. Or perhaps if you’re making pancakes, etc., and plan to let the batter sit for a while.
The clean 15 list deals with pesticides. What most people have a problem with corn is it’s not “organic” and contains GMOs
I could care less though, it’s still safe enough to eat. I usually avoid the high cost of “organic” foods.
I’ve been making my own baking powder for decades, and it not only is great, never has failed me, stores for months on end with nothing else added, but is just the opposite of your formula .. Two parts soda to One part cream of tarter. Extremely rarely do I need to add a tiny bit of acid like lemon juice. I usually make a large prescription bottle full, and once in awhile there are some small clumps, but they mash back into powder readily with a spoon, ready to go. I of course do test it, but not once ever has it failed to fizz even if a year has gone by.
Monocalcium phosphate is not the same as “cream of tartar”. Cream of tartar is potassium bitartrate – totally different.
I’ve been using Rumdord (uses non GMO corn) because I never found one that has organic corn. I feel it’s a toss up using this brand vs making my own with cream of tartar (isn’t this a biproduct of wine and wine is heavily sprayed). I could be wrong, but isn’t corn on 2017’s clean 15? I guess I lean more towards Rumford because of these reasons plus it doesn’t have aluminum. I did just find that Fromtier sells an organic baking powder, but it seems to be sold in 1 lb packages for $20+
Hi…enjoyed the article…how about adding arrowroot powder as well to prevent clumping? I saw this addition elsewhere…
In Australia, McKenzies brand of Baking powder contains rice flour (not corn starch, as hubby cannot consume corn products). Ingredients: Rice flour, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate. No aluminium & gluten free. Seems like a good choice.
Baking soda with vinegar poured over has been and still widely used in Europe.