Baking soda and powder

what section of the grocery do I find 'backpulver'in? And how does it stack up to 'double acting baking powder'?

Also, if ANYONE has any clues as to where a baker can go to find the good stuff (fresh yeast, stone ground whole wheat, etc.), their words would be very much appreciated. Hell, I might even throw in a loaf of papa_geno's famous sourdough bread...once I had the ingredients to actually MAKE it...

Related page: British and American foods - baking powder

As I have said before, I do not do any baking, but I can give you a bit of info at least.
Backpulver should not be too hard to find, but supermarkets here arrange things in a very haphazard way, and stuff semms to move from week to week, so I dunno exactly where it would be. The difference between double acting baking powder (I assume you are from the US, it is more common there I believe) and single acting baking powder is the ingredients. Double acting baking powder is baking soda + 2 dry acids, whilst single acting baking powder is baking soda + 1 acid. Single acting powder normally contains cream of tartare and tartaric acid (we went over cream of tartare in another thread a few weeks back).
Basically, single acting baking powder makes stuff rise either when it gets wet, or when it is heated. Double acting baking powder is a bit more funky, because it makes stuff rise once when it is added to wet ingredients, and once more when it is heated. You can 'make' baking powder by mixing baking soda with cream of tartare, but sadly, there is no way I know of to 'make' a substitute for Double acting powder. Sorry!

Yeast is available in pretty much every bakers. I get it in 1oz cubes from the baker in the supermarket. Just ask for hefe. Stone Ground Whole Wheat must have an equivalent, I'll have a look about - however looking at the state of some of the German breads, they don't bother grinding stuff, and leave all manner of bits and bobs in it!
I will have a good look about next time I am shopping.

Hey boyyys,
what colour are your aprons?

;-)

Should be the colour of my fuck off butchers knife that you should be more concerned with sunshine.
:twisted:

Ooooohhhhh,
you've made me go all weak at the knees duckie.

Hey Don and Papa, keep up the food oriented posts. I love learning about recipes and where to find ingredients. Don't let somebody who cleaves to antiquated ideas about masculine/feminine behavior shame you out of it.

(Hey editor bob, you really should include an emoticon with a tongue sticking out.)

I think your comments are a recipe for disaster Rug., man. So, get your peeny on and join us!
The new topic is a great idea and if you actually take a wee bit of time to read it, you might learn something( I know I have).
Now that another expert has joined forces, we may soon be eating good wholesome food that will help us forget the tastless paraphernalia on sale in the shops under the guise of food.
Bringing the taste of home (wherever that may be) to Munich can't be bad.
Finding backpulver in supermarkets has never been a problem for me it's normally by the flour and general baking or vanilla / choc pudding section (for some reason, usually quite large?). I have also noticed "extra stark" backpulver which may be what your looking for. Although I must admit, I prefer Don's scientific explaination. Dried yeast: normal; instant, are also here but the fresh yeast is found in the fridge by the yogurt or cheese. Hope you find what you need.

Hey hoddy my dour friend (give us a smilie!) and Granny, I'll have you know that I am actually quite a nifty cook myself and have even (gasp, shock horror) baked on quite a few occasions. I just don't 'rejoice' in it as much as the boyyyys ;-).

Aw forgeddit... I forgot posts are only funny if they are bitching about something.

i actually chuckled at ruggedy's post. i can understand humor/sarcasm whatever. but sounds like donriina has a pretty big knife. heh. heh. :shock:

I'm surprised at you Elf, everyone knows that its not the size of the knife that counts but what you do with it. Mines gone a bit rusty...

Does self raising flour exist in Germany at all? And if not, why do they never tell you to add baking powder to your cake mixture? I tried baking a cake today (it's boyfriend's bday tommorrow) and once more it ended up more like a cheesecake base than a sponge (although the picture on the recipe showed a light and fluffy sponge) I mean, it tastes ok, but it doesn't look very good. The only thing in the recipe that could possibly have anything to do with making the cake rise is the fact that you have to beat the egg whites before adding them. The only problem being that the flour is added to the mix after the egg whites, and you try mixing flour in evenly without losing a lot of volume from the egg whites... This is one of those situations where I think that however good your German is, there are somethings you just have to be German to understand. The secret of getting a sponge to rise is probably passed down from Mother to daughter, and never gets mentionned anywhere else because those people who need to know, already do...
Sorry, bit of a rant there... does anyone know where I can get self raising flour here? Or does anyone have any kind of hint for me (other than deep breathing!!)

I think it doesn't exist. SWMBO always using normal flour and.. I dunno... baking powder or yeast or whatever the 'eck it is.


Will you please stop doing that, you're distracting me!

That would make baking powder an ingredient, right? So why on earth isn't it listed where all the other ingredients are listed?!! :x

Had the same problem myself: Made a curry instead!

Or get your recipe from a german recipe book. Can't remember what sponge is in german: Schwammkuchen ???

We've had this one before on the board I think, a few months back; don't remember if anyone ever found self raising flour or an equivalent here, but as you say, with baking powder, you can make the stuff yourself.

500 grams flour
20 ml Crème-of-Tartar (Weinstein(säure) or something)
10 ml Bicarbonate of Soda

You Need to add the cream of tartare, because it is acid, and the soda is alkaline. The reaction when they are mixed gives the leavening effect. Baking powder is a mix of the two, but I don't know the amount to add to 500g of flour to achieve the right effect.

If your recipe said to only use normal flour, with no rising ingredient, then I can only assume the cake was meant to be flat as a cookie, or the book is crap. If it was a German recipe book, I would advise hanging it up in your bathroom and saving a few bob on loo roll. I've yet to see a good German cook book, they're normally page after page of roulade and schnitzel recipes.

That's just it, it was a German recipe (from a magazine), and there was no mention of baking powder or any other ingredient which could make the cake rise. Yet on the picture there was a light and fluffy chocolate sponge. Oh well. Tastes ok. I'll be using baking powder next time around though.

well, I've never been served a nice fluffy cake in Germany, so I expect it is simply not their style. The co-workers are constantly parading around nice heavy, dry cakes. To make one though, I don't think you need to be so exact, a tsp plus backing powder should be enough for a cake. Approach cooking like you approach love - with reckless abandon. Or so someone said once.

Just as long as I don't approach love like I approach cooking...

Although that could explain a lot...

I have to admit, I did wonder what those charred bones on your balcony were...

Kathie, the closest recipe to a sponge is "Bisquit teig" or something like that and even then it's as dry as a stick. Follow Don's advice and try substituting "speisestark" ( a kind of cornflour) for half of your flour.
I searched for self- raising flour to no avail, I even asked at the Rosenmehl factory and they were very helpful...not! Now, I just get my visitors to bring it with them, anyway, the German visitors that I have don't appreciate fairy cakes or a sponge, they always look for something fancier and soaked in alcohol.

Kathie,

I believe the German trick is to buy those little packets of "Backpulver". The only snag is one of those packets is supposed to be sufficient for a kg of flour which means you have to mix it all up in a box somehow. Failing that ... get proper baking powder imported!

"Backpulver," is just baking powder and won't make any difference to your cakes. The ommission of the necessary raising agents in the actual flour is the problem, therefore, you will need an analysis before implementing a change, or, you can have some "Homepride", brought over.

Why not ask me to stock it in my shop...?

Good grief people, the definition of a true sponge cake is that it has no leavening agent. Joy of Cooking, page 946. You can add cream of tartar to your whipped egg whites to keep them a little stiffer -- the German baking products aisle has packages of stuff called egg stiffener or something that should do the same or you can get Weinstein. Or use a recipe that has baking powder, and just don't call it a sponge cake.

And double-acting baking powder is available in Munich at grocery stores listed in the Guide...

AFAIK - Germany doesn't have self-raising flour. Instead, it's common practise to mix baking powder with plain flour. This turns it into self-raising flour. Bicarbonate of soda has a different effect!

Is baking soda the same as baking powder?
If so, they have it (Arm & Hammer brand) at the Hong Kong Market in the Motorama shopping centre at Rosenheimer Platz.

arm & hammer baking soda is also available at hertie. i just bought it today. along with hellman's mayo. sigh. but i suspect you want that backpulver stuff by dr. oetker, which is widely available in all grocery stores. will substitute for powder, but not soda.

Baking soda is not the same as baking powder. Read all about it here for a far better explanation than I could give.

baking powder and soda are not the same, and German baking powder "Backpulver" is again different. Please read the section in the Toytown Guide about British and American Foods in Munich for more info.