Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Magic Baking Powder

Okay, maybe not *magic* but it's gonna feel that way once I get to baking!  This time of year brings out the baking beast in me.  A weekend trip to the grocery and a crafts store had me leaving with more melting chocolate, piping bags and tips, spice cake mixes, extracts, sprinkles and all kinds of things that the hubby's co-workers will either love me or hate me for baking.  I always try to keep an eye on my sodium.  It can be the difference between buying an item or not.  People probably assume I have high blood pressure or some heart condition but I don't.  I don't WANT them and I pick and choose where I want my sodium and baking goods aren't it.  I was highly irritated to see that baking powder had sodium in it...to the tune of about 480mg of sodium per teaspoon!  TEAspoon!  Many baking recipes call for 1-2 teaspoons of baking powder so that can be an extra 480-960mg of sodium in one pithy not even fun to eat on its own ingredient! It's one of those things that feels like it should be a freebie.  So I was off to find out if such a magical creature existed.  I thought I'd heard of it but wasn't sure if it was powder or soda I'd read about.  Enter Hain...



I was so happy to see Hain Sodium Free Baking Powder (affiliate link)  It's also gluten free.  I guess this stuff is hard to find so I'm glad I saved myself a futile trip all over town.  (You can look on their product locator to see what stores around you carry it...which happened to be zero in my area)  So I ordered it and while I'm not jazzed about paying close to the same price as the product in shipping, I know this stuff will last me quite a while and help me cut out some of the sodium that so plagues everything these days.  I'm so grateful for this alternative because in the battle again inflated sodium amounts in baked goods, this is a pretty good weapon to have in the arsenal!

Do you like to bake? Do you try to find ways to lighten or make a recipe healthier when possible?

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9 comments:

  1. I had no idea that baking powder has sodium. I figured it was a freebie too. Most likely I won't order it though, I don't watch my sodium as closely as you do so it's probably not worth the extra for me. It is something to keep in mind if ever there is a time that I start watching it closer.

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  2. Ain't that the niftiest thing I've seen this week. Seriously, that's kinda cool. Sodium free baking powder, who'd a thunk it. Might be looking that up. Have fun baking.

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  3. Awesome. Thanks for the info! While I knew baking powder had sodium, I just figured it was needed for leavening (?). Turns out a grocery store a mile from my office has it so I shall buy some.

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  4. Thanks for sharing. I never thought about it having sodium. I guess I need to watch things closer. At least now I can check this out.

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  5. Ohhh, thanks for the tip! Sodium free is great; I checked, and there are stores relatively nearby that should have it, so I'm gonna go pick up some for the baking season ahead. I don't have any issues with high blood pressure either, and I don't want to!

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  6. Cool! I like to bake but had no idea that there was that much sodium in baking powder! I will have to see if I can find it here. I might have to get it at the health food store though. Thanks for the heads up about the sodium in the baking powder as well as this baking powder from Hain.

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  7. Thanks for the info. I knew about the sodium but didn't know this product existed!

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  8. Interesting! I knew it had a lot of sodium in it, but I thought that was part of the chemical make up??? Guess not!!! I'm interested to find out if it works like the orginial. Keep me posted!!! :)

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  9. I never knew that about baking powder and sodium!!

    thank you

    and if this is not to pushy - Another alternative is Epicure's baking powder - there is sodium but only 70 mg - so much more palatable

    if you feel the above is to pushy just take it out

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