Great Tip for Baking Powder Freshness

We've all read that your baking powder should be fresh for it to really do its work. But what does that mean? What would it look like?

Normally, when I'm telling the world about a cookbook I love, I do it over at Once Upon A Feast or reference it over at Recipes 4 Every Kitchen in a recipe I've chosen to make. But this time, I think it's perfect to share right here as well!

Marcy Goldman's latest book on baking, aptly called A Passion for Baking isn't your ordinary baking book. True, it's filled with the most delectable dishes and very easy to follow recipes. And yes, there are beautiful photos to entice you even more. But what captured me most of all is the very first chapter - Baking Secrets. It's filled with everything you need to know about utensils (I absolutely have to go out and buy a

Dough Scraperand a


Bird's beak paring knife), ingredients and how to store them to keep them fresh, and of course baking tips...my favorite being...stack two baking sheets together and top with parchment paper before baking to avoid over browning.

I'm all for writing in margins of cookbooks, making notations to remind me that I loved/hated a particular recipe, or that I added/removed some ingredient so that the next time I flipped through the book, I'd be ahead of the game. But I've never underlined passages and put stars in the margins of a cookbook before!

And back to the baking powder question...How can you tell if it's fresh? After all you do use it to act as a leavening agent and if it's not fresh...well, nothing happens!

Here's Marcy's secret... add 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp baking powder to 1/2 cup of warm water. If the baking powder is fresh, it will bubble up instantly.

Run, don't walk to your favorite book seller and get A Passion for Baking. You won't regret it.

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