Early Baking

Leavening ingredients we take for granted just wasn't available prior to the Civil War. The early leavening agents took a while to develop and didn't work quickly. The breads and cakes we know today didn't exist in much earlier times.

In 1791, French chemist, Nicolas LeBlanc, produced a sodium carbonate that would be later used in baking. It wasn't until 1846 that two New York bakers, John Dwight and Austin Church, started the first factory to develop baking soda from sodium carbonate and carbon dioxide. The product was first called saleratus, and was also used by fishermen to keep fish fresh longer.

Early pioneers packed saleratus in the covered wagons for the journey west. The company Church and Dwight started would become Arm & Hammer.

Several men began experimenting with producing a product that could be used to make bake goods rise quickly, but baking powder didn't hit the American market until after 1865. Different combinations of ingredients were tried, but it

wasn't until 1889 that the "double acting"   baking  powder we know today came out. It contained baking soda, cream of tartar, and something like cornstarch to absorb moisture. Self-rising flour wouldn't become common until even later.

__________________________________________