Homemade baking powder

If you look at the label on your commercial baking powder, you'll most likely see that it's double-acting. This means that it becomes active at two points during baking, once when exposed to liquids and again when exposed to a heat source.

Homemade baking powder is single-acting. It activates upon exposure to liquids. Any products that you bake with single-acting baking powder will need to move from mixing to cooking/baking right away. This effect is more pronounced with something like a cake, than a batch of pancakes. (My last pancake in a batch comes out just as fluffy as the first.)

That said, there are some good reasons to mix up your own baking powder.

• you may have run out of baking powder and don't have time to rush out to buy more
• your baking powder may be past expiry and you don't want to "risk it" (to test, stir 1 teaspoon of baking powder into 1/3 cup of hot water; you should see very active bubbling right away)
• if you buy your ingredients smartly (in bulk, not those tiny little jars), you may save money by making your own baking powder
• you can avoid ingredients that you wish to minimize in your diet (aluminum and corn products, for example)
• the flavor in baked goods is better (some commercial baking powders leave a slight bitter after-taste)

The basic recipe for baking powder is:

1 part baking soda
1 part starch *
2 parts cream of tartar

* the starch can be corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch or arrowroot. Make sure you are using "starch" and not "flour", for this part of the recipe.

I use arrowroot or tapioca starch, whichever I happen to have in my cupboard at the time. The addition of starch allows you to store your homemade baking powder for several months. Starch absorbs moisture, preventing activation of your baking powder while in the cupboard.

You can also make a substitute without the starch, one recipe at a time ( 1/4 teaspoon baking soda + 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar = 1 teaspoon baking powder).


To have homemade, aluminum-free /corn-free baking powder on hand, I make about 1/2 cup at a time, following these measures:

1/8 cup baking soda
1/8 cup tapioca starch or arrowroot (potato or corn starch also works well)
1/4 cup cream of tartar

In a small bowl, I add the baking soda. I mash the lumps out of the baking soda with the back of a spoon. Then I whisk in the starch and cream of tartar.

For a uniform product, I then pass all of this through a sifter (a sieve or mesh strainer will also work). Use this measure per measure in recipes.

Store in an airtight jar. Homemade baking powder maintains it's maximum effectiveness for about 6 months. 

I occasionally find soft lumps in the baking powder. But these smash out with the back of the measuring spoon, as I'm scooping out what I need for a recipe.

This is my closet

You can see that it's not terribly large for a grown woman's clothing. Now imagine winter bedding and spare pillows in here, too. Since I shrank and moved those items to another closet, I can actually see what I have.

I spent an afternoon sorting out winter clothing and doing some basic organizing in my closet. And here it is, about as organized as it will likely get for now.

I like to keep pants and skirts on the bottom bar, blouses, jackets, and good tees on the top bar, a stack of sweaters, easily visible, and shoes on the floor where I can lazily grab them with my feet. A summer hat and visor are on the top shelf.

And yes, I do hang my jeans. They stay nice longer that way. I have a pair of dark denim and a pair of black jeans on the bottom bar.

I use the hooks on the door for a couple of casual bags, an umbrella (still using that this week!) and pjs.

The boxes on the top shelf hold most of my winter clothes. In addition, I have 2 sweater dresses and 2 pairs of wool slacks hanging in a tall closet elsewhere.

(The blue bin is my laundry bin.  And in the left-hand, back, lower corner is a box of projects and gifts that just haven't made it to better storage locations. I could still squeeze more clothing storage space in here if I cleaned up that spot.)

Some things I noticed about my clothes . . .

I tend to dress drab. I think I've been in some sort of funk for the last decade or so -- just look at all the beige, black and brown. And these are my summer clothes!

I also noticed that I don't seem to shoe shop much. Those shoes, some winter dress and rain boots and the sneakers on my feet, are it.


I do like sweaters, even in summer. They cling in all the right spots and skim the bulges I'd prefer to ignore. The sweaters are stacked in the milk boxes on the left of the lower shelf. Those cardboard milk boxes, the kind that 2 gallons of milk come in, are just the right width for a folded sweater.

On top of the boxes of sweaters are a selection of summery scarves. I have a large scarf selection. Some of them were my mother's and date to the early 70s. Most of my scarves were jumbled in a drawer, so I culled through them to find some especially summery ones that I can use this summer to change up some of my outfits.

I seem to buy the same item over and over. I have 3 long-sleeved white blouses. And in packing away my winter clothes I came across 4 black sweaters. As a woman with not very much clothing to begin, that is a lot of repetition.

When I do buy color, I seem to just buy from a very limited palette. Pale blue-green and coral pink are evidently favorites of mine. Yet, I'd never given that any thought before.

Although I only buy 1 or 2 clothing items per year, I can see that if I go back to work this next year, I will have enough of a wardrobe to cover my needs. I do take very good care of my nicer clothing. You probably can't guess which, but one of those sweaters is from the 1970s. Someone reading right now is probably saying, "the 70s! I wasn't even born then!"


I also have a couple of drawers of casual tops. I'm an especially poor shopper when it comes to casual clothes. Of my two casual shirt drawers, one has been dubbed "the ugly shirt drawer". These are the shirts that I'll wear only if I haven't gotten to the laundry, and my "first pick" tops are not available. Unfortunately, "the ugly shirt drawer" contains far more tops than the "first pick" drawer. I have a drawer of stretchy casual pants, a pair of capris, and a skort, as well.

My around-the-house casual clothing is where I really need to focus my attire attention. I've been looking through some of my hanging clothing and trying to think of new ways to incorporate some of those items into my casual daily wear. One of my white long-sleeved blouses has been slated for the next dye bath -- I'm thinking a light shade of purple. I could wear it as an over shirt with a purple tee-shirt that I like. The hanging shirts to the left are already casual shirts. I just need to remember to wear those as well as my tee-shirts in the drawers.

I can really see where a tidy closet is essential for dressing smartly. (Mom, you were right, a tidy room is a happy room.) "Seeing" my clothes clearly, without the added encumbrance of winter bedding, has opened my eyes, and my mind, to how and why I dress as I do. And now, I can go forth and make changes that I think better reflect who I am today.