What to use instead of baking powder
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Chemical lift in a batter with no acid of its own
It carries soda and a dry acid in the same tin, so once liquid arrives the reaction runs without anything sour in the recipe. Double-acting powder gives a second push in the heat.
Baking soda with cream of tartarRan out
1/4 tsp soda + 1/2 tsp cream of tartar per 1 tsp baking powder
Single-acting, so it fires in the bowl. Get the batter into the pan inside ten minutes or most of the lift is gone.
Baking soda with buttermilkRan out
1/4 tsp soda per 1 tsp powder, with 1/2 cup buttermilk replacing 1/2 cup of the milk
Tangier and it browns considerably faster, so drop the oven or the oil about 10 degrees.
Baking soda with lemon juice or vinegarRan out
1/4 tsp soda + 1/2 tsp lemon juice per 1 tsp powder
Fast and violent. The batter foams in the bowl and goes flat if it stands, so it has to be used immediately.
Self-rising flourRan out
1 cup self-rising per 1 cup flour + 1 1/2 tsp powder + 1/4 tsp salt
The lift is fixed and cannot be adjusted, and the soft wheat in it gives a more tender, less chewy crumb.
What doesn't work: Baking soda on its own. With no acid to meet it only gasses off partly, and what stays behind tastes soapy and turns the crumb yellow. Soda is only a swap when something sour goes in with it.
Porosity in a fried coating
The gas expands the instant the batter hits hot oil, so the coating blows into a porous shell that keeps its crunch instead of setting into a hard smooth skin.
Baking soda with buttermilkRan out
1/4 tsp soda per 1 tsp powder, with 1/2 cup buttermilk in place of the milk
Browns much faster, so drop the oil to 170C or the crust darkens before the middle is cooked.
Sparkling water in place of the milkRan out
1 cup sparkling water per 1 cup milk, batter used within 5 minutes
The bubbles give the same porosity with no alkaline taste, and the crust goes lighter and shatters more. It goes flat fast.
Baking soda with cream of tartarRan out
1/4 tsp soda + 1/2 tsp cream of tartar per 1 tsp powder
Fires once, in the bowl, so the batter has to reach the oil within about ten minutes to puff at all.
What doesn't work: Self-rising flour in a batter that already has its salt and leavening measured out. You end up doubled on both, and the coating tastes salty and soapy and sloughs off in the oil.
Lift in a flatbread cooked on a dry griddle
There is no time for a ferment and no oven spring on a griddle, so the powder has to make all its gas in the two minutes the bread is on the heat.
Baking soda with yogurt worked into the doughRan out
1/4 tsp soda per 1 tsp powder, with 1/4 cup yogurt
Softer and tangier, and it blisters in darker spots on the griddle because of the extra sugar and protein.
Self-rising flourRan out
1 cup self-rising per 1 cup flour + 1 1/2 tsp powder + 1/4 tsp salt
Puffier and more tender, and the dough comes out stickier, so it needs more bench flour to roll.
Instant yeast, given timeRan out
1/2 tsp instant yeast per 1 tsp powder, rested 45 minutes
Bigger blisters, a chewier bread and a proper bready smell, at the cost of an hour before you cook.
What doesn't work: Doubling the powder to get more puff. Past about 1 1/2 tsp per cup of flour the leftover alkali stays in the bread, so it tastes bitter and metallic and the surface goes yellow and blotchy.
Old powder is the usual reason a batter fails. Drop 1/2 tsp into hot water; if it does not fizz hard straight away, the tin is dead.