Facepalming Really Hard Right Now

[Persei V.]

The laws on gluten free products around where I live (the tropical land called Brazil) are kind of non-existent. As in they do exist but no one cares: I found a brand of rice pasta recently, which is advertised in the site of the Celiacs Association of my country, and there's 77,5 ppm of gluten in there, instead of 20 ppm given by the law A doctor made a monography about gluten free products and did the ELSA test in that rice pasta. God bless her, I ate that thing twice and had reactions. I was going to try again.

Anyhow. Baking powders. They all are cross contaminated. I love baking, so I did tons of cakes, but recently I've been reacting to them. Figured it was the baking powder, swapped to another brand. Again, glutened. The brand is a brand famous for its gluteny cake mixes and wheat flour, what the hell was I thinking?

So I saw in a site that baking soda could substitute the baking powder, but I am not sure... I know they all do basically the same thing. Has anyone tried to use baking soda instead of baking powder on cakes and cupcakes? I suppose baking soda is safer because I can have it from chemicals industries (they sell baking soda in pharmacies around here), hence less likely to be cross contaminated.

Or is it bad to health? Because I'm really not in place to scr*w with my intestines yet again.

[mushroom]

How to make your own baking powder:

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon corn starch (optional)

[shadowicewolf]

Or you could always import from the US....

[ciamarie]

I can't use baking powder (or cream of tartar) due to a sensitivity to sulfites. And I have discovered that yes, one can use baking soda plus an acid of some sort to get baked goods to rise. I have been using vinegar or sometimes yogurt as the acid.

How much to use can be a bit tricky, because too much gives you the baking soda flavor, not great. I have a text notepad where I keep some baking notes, so I hopefully don't make the same mistake twice. I have also been doing some baking without starches, so that makes it more interesting.

I recently made some rice flour rolls with 1 cup of rice flour and 1/2 cup tapioca flour, and used 3/4 teaspoon (t) of baking soda and 2 t of vinegar, they came out pretty good.

This morning I made some pumpkin muffins (used my applesauce cake recipe, which I posted in the forums here), and for 2 cups of flour ( 1 1/2 cup white rice flour, 1/2 cup almond flour) and 1 cup of sugar, I used 2 3/4 t baking soda and 3 t vinegar. They came out pretty yummy.

[Persei V.]

Ok, I have vinegar. I made an experiment with baking soda and lemon juice once, it was awesome Maybe I could use lemon juice too...?

Anyhow, I am not sure if I can import. I would cut a metaphorical limb to buy the Cherry Pie Larabar, but unfortunately, no site will ship to my town... Or to Brazil at all for that matter.

[ciamarie]

Ok, I have vinegar. I made an experiment with baking soda and lemon juice once, it was awesome Maybe I could use lemon juice too...?

Lemon juice should be fine too. I also avoid bottled lemon juice due to the sulfite issue, and I have to squeeze my own when I want to make some mayonaise. For baking, the vinegar or yogurt is easier for me than lemon juice.

[IrishHeart]

I would cut a metaphorical limb to buy the Cherry Pie Larabar, but unfortunately, no site will ship to my town...

Make your own larabars?

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Enjoy

[1desperateladysaved]

I use baking soda to make things rise. I use oil or eggs for the acidic part. Most recipes seem to be just fine that way. For most recipes I use 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda and whatever eggs or oil are in the recipe.

[kareng]

I use baking soda to make things rise. I use oil or eggs for the acidic part. Most recipes seem to be just fine that way. For most recipes I use 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda and whatever eggs or oil are in the recipe.

Oil and eggs aren't acidic, are they?

[rosetapper23]

Persei,

What part of Brazil do you live in? I went to school in Guararapes in the interior part of the state of San Paolo....but it was a long time ago. I wish I could remember what cream of tartar is called there, but I do recall that I was able to find it at a pharmacy. When I lived there, I hadn't yet been diagnosed with celiac, but you're lucky--Brazilians tend to eat a lot of natural, unprocessed foods. However, I'm sad to hear that the food manufacturers are ignoring the law.

[Takala]

You can use baking soda and pure apple cider or other gluten free vinegar, or lemon juice, or yogurt (which is acidic) just fine for baking. Just don't add the vinegar and then let it sit for a long while, because the baking soda will fizz up and then go flat. The reason there is a grain byproduct in the dry baking powders, is to keep the faster acting baking soda and the slower acting ingredient from reacting to each other before liquid is added.

Use about 1 to 2 teaspoons of vinegar in a typical recipe (don't worry, you won't taste the vinegar) and anywhere from a half teaspoon to 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of baking soda, depending on if it is one cup of gluten free flour, or 2 cups - or just use the same amount of baking powder called for.

[Persei V.]

Persei,

What part of Brazil do you live in? I went to school in Guararapes in the interior part of the state of San Paolo....but it was a long time ago. I wish I could remember what cream of tartar is called there, but I do recall that I was able to find it at a pharmacy. When I lived there, I hadn't yet been diagnosed with celiac, but you're lucky--Brazilians tend to eat a lot of natural, unprocessed foods. However, I'm sad to hear that the food manufacturers are ignoring the law.

Northeast. Ceará, to be more precise. I never saw cream of tartar in pharmacies, but I'll check.

I am really lucky to live here, indeed. It has been so easy to swap to a whole foods diet, especially with my household (mother with migraines caused by fatty and/or processed foods, dad with history of high blood pressure and high sugar blood, low salt and sugar free/ processed foods free diet). Although not being able to trust labels on the rare processed items I buy it's maddening.

Thanks for the tips, I will put them on use as soon as I can!

[lpellegr]

Oil and eggs aren't acidic, are they?

No, eggs and oil are not generally considered to be acidic.