What is Baking Powder?
Baking Powder is a white powder used for leavening in baked goods. It is primarily used instead of yeast for baked goods where fermentation flavors would be undesirable or where the baked good lacks the elasticity to trap gas bubbles. In order to achieve its leavening power, baking powder is made up of an base (baking soda), an acid (cream of tartar), and buffer (cornstarch). Once moisture is added to baking powder, the acid/base reaction is started which creates carbon dioxide. There are two primary types of baking powder:
- Single-Acting – Single-acting baking powder reacts to moisture and requires immediate baking after mixing.
- Double-Acting – Double-acting baking powder releases gas twice. Once when it is mixed with moisture and again when heat is applied during baking.
Is Baking Powder Vegan?
Yes! Baking powder is vegan-friendly since no animal-derived ingredients or processes are used to make it. Baking powder is typically composed of baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. All of these ingredients are almost always vegan-friendly. We could not find any brands of baking powder that were not vegan friendly in our research, but a list of brands we verified to be vegan is below.
Is Baking Powder Gluten-Free?
Yes, baking powder is typically gluten-free as well! We say “typically” because some brands use a wheat starch buffer instead of cornstarch or the baking powder is processed in a facility with gluten containing products. A list of gluten-free cornstarch brands are in the following section.
Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking Powder Brands
As there can be some cross-contamination in the processing facilities we have verified the following 5 companies to have both vegan and gluten-free baking powder:
- Argo (Double-acting and Kosher)
- Bob’s Red Mill (Double-acting, Non-GMO, and Kosher)
- Clabber Girl (Double-acting and Kosher)
- Davis (Double-acting and Non-GMO)
- Rumford (Double-acting, Non-GMO, and Kosher)
