BAKING POWDERS 151 



more. Meanwhile, the dough itself is influenced by the heat 

 and is stiffened to such an extent that it retains its inflated shape 

 ! and spongy nature. 



Many housewives look askance at ready-made baking pow- 

 ders and prefer to bake with soda and sour milk, soda and 

 buttermilk, or soda and cream of tartar. Sour milk and butter- 

 1 milk are quite as good as cream of tartar, because the lactic 

 acid which they contain combines with the soda and liber- 

 I ates carbon dioxide, and forms a harmless residue in the dough. 

 In cakes made with molasses, cream of tartar is not needed, 

 since the molasses contains sufficient acid to liberate carbon 

 dioxide from the soda. If you examine a cookbook, you will 

 see that soda is never used without an acid. We do not always 

 recognize the presence of an acid, but it is always present, either 

 1 as the acid of sour milk, fruit juices, cream of tartar, butter- 

 milk, or molasses. 



The desire of manufacturers to produce cheap baking 

 powders led to the use of cheap acids and alkalies, regard- 

 ! less of the character of the resulting salt. For this reason 

 j many states have prohibited the use of ingredients known 

 I to be harmful. For a time alum was thought to be inju- 

 j rious in baking powder, but the best scientists now main* 

 ; tain that its product, after the process of digestion, is not 

 j harmful. 



It is not only important to choose the ingredients carefully ; 

 it is also necessary to calculate the quantities of each, other- 

 wise there will be an excess of acid or alkali for the stomach to 

 take care of. A standard powder contains twice as much of 

 1 cream of tartar as of bicarbonate of soda. The thrifty house- 

 wife can make for herself, at small cost, as good a baking 

 powder as any on the market, by mixing cream of tartar and 

 | soda in the above proportions and adding a little cornstarch 

 to keep the mixture dry. 



