11540 Baking Powder

It's called "lievito in polvere"

[quote=juliancoll;109252]It's called "lievito in polvere"[/quote]

Or "lievito per dolci", unfortunately they have the tendency to always put vanilla aroma in it, so check the label carefully if you don't want this.

Thanks Julancoll and Liset,

I had seen the lievito in the supermarket but wasn't quite sure if that was what i needed.

Baking heaven here I come!!

Auds:laughs:

I wouldn't bet on it- I find it works differently to the British stuff, has a tendency to make a fizzing sound and either the cake turns out flat as a pancake or rises up and over the tin- what am I doing wrong?!!!!

You can always make your own baking powder which is only a mixture of cream of tartar (potassium hydrogen tartrate), bicarbonate of soda or baking soda and some cornstarch or cornflour. Here are the proportions:

2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cornstarch.

Mix thoroughly and keep in an airtight container.

Also, self-raising flour ("miscela di farina e lievito") is available in Italy and gives good results

I'm sure there was a thread about this a couple of years ago where, strange as it seems, there were several members who complained of exactly the same thing happening to them as HelenMW when baking cakes - something to do with the height above sea level affecting the way baking powder performs. If it was either too high or too low, the cake doesn't rise or rises too much. Will try to find the thread later for you Helen.

You are right JC, there has been some earlier threads on the subject. The only one that I have been able to find, because I remembered that one of them had to do with scones, is this one:
[url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/food-drink/9984-scones-tea.html[/url]
But I am almost certain that there were others pointing out those problems when baking cakes and pastries.

Yes Gala - there is at least one other (much older) thread that goes into a lot of detail about altitude baking than the one you have linked to above - but for the life of me I cant find it either.

I have an American cook book called the Joy of Cooking which explains some of the physics behind cooking and it says this about baking powder: there are 3 different types, Tartrate, Phosphate and double acting or Sodium Aluminum (sic) Sulfate Baking Powders. All have an acid and an alkaline material reacting to form carbon dioxide which forms the tiny bubbles that create the leavening action.

Because the barometric pressure is decreased at higher altitudes the carbon dioxide expands more quickly creating too much leavening. JOC recommends that you reduce the amount of baking powder accordingly if you are baking at altitude. I suspect you could Google for more information on this on the web.

Thank goodness there are clever people on the forum... :smile:

Thanks JC for letting me know others have had this problem- I thought it was something peculiar I was doing. Thanks Gala for the baking powder "recipe"-I am now going to make you all wonder what planet I'm from by asking" what is cornstarch"? is it the same as cornflour? I use the self raisning flour here & have found it very good but there are recipes which specifically say plain flour & baking powder but I guess I could get my mum to keep sending the baking powder food parcels

I get consistently fine results from italian self-raising flour or English baking powder. I agree with what has been said about the italian baking powder and over-rising.

Cornstarch, cornflour, "Maizena".... they are all the same thing.
One extra tip, be careful to have the eggs you will use for the recipe at room temperature. So if you normally keep them in the fridge, remember to take them out of it at least one hour prior to using them.
And also, when you are baking, always have the oven preheated and the moulds or tins lined or ready to use as leaving the cake mix resting before putting it in the oven may start the raising process. After all, it is just a chemical process.

[quote=Auds;109251]Could anyone advise me if I can get baking powder in Italy and if so what is it called.

Thanks
Auds:smile:[/quote]

I have just discovered it in small packets in Lidls. No vanilla in this one!

If friends can bring you a pot or two, of it from an English Supermarket it works out MUCH cheaper though.
I cannot bake a scone here at 627 mts and neither can my sister in law who is an expert scone maker in Leicestershire!!

:smile:

Thanks to everyone for their help and advice on this. I am going to check out Lidl and if all else fails a couple of my friends are coming over mid march so I will bribe them into bringing me over a little stash.
Auds

I'm puzzled by the altitude reasons given for baking failure to some extent. If this is truly the reason, then do people generally have trouble baking during periods of low pressure at normal altitudes? It's quite possible that there's no pressure difference between someone at 600 metres one day and someone at sea level on another day. Pressure is constantly changing - perhaps that's why baking is a black art :)

Cooking is basically chemistry in action and to master it is an art. It is true that high altitude or lower air pressure can affect results as this causes bubbles trapped in the mixture to rise at a faster rate. Any good cook will tell you that there are good days and bad days whenever you try baking. You will also notice that when you buy fresh bread, some days it is looks, feels and tastes better than others,
There are quite a few tricks to adjust recipes to pressure conditions. High sugar or baking powder content can alter the raising process.
Oven temperature is another problem. You have to learn to know your oven and adjust temperatures accordingly.
Basically, baking powder is a mixture between an alkali (bicarbonate of soda) and an acid (cream of tartar). Mixed with some liquid (the batter) it creates a chemical reaction producing carbon dioxide and this is what makes the cake to raise. Alkali reacts immediately, the acid needs the heat in the oven to act. Besides cream of tartar, other acids can be used such as yoghurt, buttermilk or sour cream. There are recipes in which you only use bicarbonate of soda and yoghurt.

Very interesting and quite obviously the reason why some can just do it and for others it's completely hit & miss. So, what's a decent pressure for scones - 1013mb by any chance? :winki:

In theory, yes, but I think it is better to use a magic wand.... just in case...

And I would add that as daft as it seems, I have found that here in Umbria, the gas pressure from the village gas supply varies (as does the "strength" of the electricity supply) to my ovens. So some days there's just not enough umph to roast the potatoes ...of course that's the day when I have invited every one to lunch!!!