Hi Bold Bakers!
I have been swamped with messages asking to show you how to substitute raising agents in your baking — including a baking soda substitute. Luckily, this is totally doable. Baking powder and baking soda are both baking essentials, and depending on the specific recipe you may need one or the other, or both. If you run out of one while you are baking I’m going to tell you how you can substitute it in a recipe!
Let’s start out with the what:
What Is Baking Powder?
It is a raising agent that reacts with moisture in your recipe to activate it and make your baked goods rise. An example of this is: If you add baking powder to water you will see it bubble up and get fizzy.
How To Make Baking Powder Substitute
To make baking powder, mix together 1 tablespoon of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is an acid and it is used to activate the baking soda in recipes. It is a by-product of winemaking.
What Is Baking Soda?
Baking soda is another raising agent, but it has to react with an acid in your recipe to activate it. By an acid, I mean a recipe that has buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, vinegar and so on. If you add baking soda into vinegar you will see it bubble up and fizz over. That is the acid reaction.
How To Make A Baking Soda Substitute
For every 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a recipe, replace it with 4 teaspoons of baking powder — so use 4 times the amount of baking powder. The ratio is 1:4.
Notes on Yeast
Yeast, fresh or dried, is a raising agent for bread and dough. Now, you can use active dried or fast-action yeast. They are similar except fast action doesn’t require you to let your dough rise a second time unlike active dried yeast. Sorry, but there is no substitute for yeast in a recipe. You need to add it in for the recipe to rise.
But, not all bread needs yeast! Make my Traditional Irish Soda Bread or Best-Ever Banana Bread, for instance.
Want more baking tips like these? Check out my Weight Conversion Chart and How to Substitute Sugar in Recipes.
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook for more recipes!
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