Low sodium baking tips using Australian Baking powder.

(some experiments)

Experiment with all the salt free baking powders that you can find.
Brown spots on the top of baked goods are eliminated by grinding up the powder.
Grinding should not be necessary with wet mixes as the bigger particles can more easily dissolved.
Adding citric acid crystals (1/8- 1/4 of baking powder) to the liquid or grinding it with the powder just before using may give a better raise and a whiter result.
Flour is cheap so experiment until you are happy.

Coffee/spice grinder ans scones showing spots

The scone *** that used ground baking powder is on the right.

I found that the spots were caused by small particles about 1mm in size. Most could be removed by sifting through a fine mesh tea strainer. The removed particles only formed a small part of the powder and could be discarded or separately ground up in a mortar and pestle. Using a high speed spice/coffee grinder could damage the grinder but if you do use one add a teaspoon of sugar as the sugar crystals tend to fly around and free up the powder for a more thorough grind. Note sugar is not necessary if have added citric acid crystals as they do the same job.
UPDATE The book "SALT MATTERS" explains that the spots cause no harm so I will use the grinder only when visitors call.

Sliced scones

W = A "Normal" baking powder

SG = Ground Salt Skip (TM)

SC = Ground Salt Skip (TM) with 1/8 citric acid added note whiter result

S = Salt Skip (TM). Note spots

The above test scones *** were made with 1/2 cup flour sifted twice with 1 Teaspoon of baking powder : 2 Tablespoons (40ml) water : cooked 20 minutes at 200ºC .

The 3 low sodium scones *** had a bland taste. There was no taste of the citric acid. The "normal" scone *** tasted strongly of salt and baking powder. It could be that I am now supersensitive. They had 2 teaspoons per cup of baking powder which is in the recommended range. As there seems to be no taste penalty to increasing the non sodium powder I will use the maximum recommended of 2 &1/2 teaspoons per cup of flour.

***Remember these were not real scones as there was no butter, cream, sugar etc. so they were bound to be bland.

As an example of using salt free baking powder I will attempt to make the best scones that I can with my favorite baking powder.

Lemonade scones made with Salt Skip (TM) baking powder and citric acid.

The method is :-

Pre-heat oven to 200ºC
Grind the Baking powder with 1 t of sugar.
Mix and sift all the dry ingredients together.
Dissolve citric acid completely in the lemonade then add to the cream and mix completely .
Add the mixed liquids to dry ingredients and use a knife to mix until just combined.
Dump on a floured surface and knead a minimum amount to make uniform.
Spread/roll 2 cm thick and cut out about 12 50mm rounds.
Place on baking paper on a flat tray and brush the tops with milk.
Bake then remove to a cooling rack.

I use separate plastic glasses to weigh the liquids in. If you do not add the lemonade to the cream it will be difficult to get all the cream out. Do not use light thickened cream. Look for a thickened cream with about 20mg/100g of sodium or less. I grind up a teaspoon of sugar first to help clean out my spice grinder and use a dry pastry brush to help remove the ground material. I freeze these scones and microwave them just before use.
First batch of scones

The table below demonstrates the ingredients of lemonade scones. I am going to try various recipes based on a constant of 300g of flour ( approx.2 x 250ml cups) and a cooking temperature of 200ºC. The liquids will be weighed and used cold from the refrigerator. T = 20ml, t = 5ml . Diet lemonade was used as we keep this on hand.

Baking Powder	Thickened Cream	Lemonade	Sugar	Citric acid	Cooking Time	Comments.
5 t	100g	100g	1 T	3/4 t Ground	16 min.	Mix was too dry to kneed easily. Taste a bit sweet. Texture good. Slightly undercooked. Colour pale yellow. (See left above).
5 t	100g	150g	nil	1 t Dissolved	22 min	Mix was damp and needed some flour dusted on when rolling out --about right. Good taste and rise. No excess citric acid. Tea strainer method with grinding in a morter and pestel was used and some spots remained.
5 t	125g	130g	1 t	1 t Dissolved	22 min	The sugar was ground at high speed with the baking powder. Taste, texture, and colour all great. Big rise means scones tended to tip over so could be cut from thinner dough next time. I am happy with this recipe but will reduce baking powder to 4 t for next batch and eliminate the sugar.
4 t	125g	130g	nil	1 t Dissolved	22 min	Slightly less rise and uses less baking powder so this will do me.

Wholemeal or Plain Scones made with Salt Skip (TM) baking powder and citric acid.

The above scones were so good when microwaved that we ended up eating them on a regular basis in place of toast with breakfast. In the interests of health I replaced the plain flour with wholemeal and used canola oil instead of cream. If you want white scones and have no cream this recipe works with plain flour also. The spots (see above) are not so evident with wholemeal flour so grinding is not necessary.
Wholemeal scones

Preheat oven to 200ºC
300g Wholemeal plain flour (I used stone ground) or Plain flour
4 t Salt skip baking powder
Mix the above thoroughly then add
2 T Canola oil
Use a knife to mix thoroughly.
In a plastic container (so liquid stays cold) make up.
1 t Citric acid dissolved in
200g Ice cold lemonade.
Make a well in the flour (so liquid will get near the bottom of the bowl) and add liquid all at once.
Use a knife to mix. then continue from (6) above baking for 22 minutes.

Normal baking powder contains sodium. Sodium free baking powder usually contains potassium.
If you have a condition that precludes the use of sodium and potassium you can still have scones and cakes.
Replace the baking powder in the recipes above with 3/4 of a teaspoon of Ammonium Bicarbonate and delete the citric acid.
There may be some smell of residual ammonia but it soon dissipates. The ammonia may reappear if the scone is reheated.
Using ammonia bicarbonate in scones is not ideal because of the possibility of residual ammonia.
This is reduced if the scone is a little over cooked and cutting the scone and letting it air while hot also helps.
Look for JBS Spices Ammonia Bicarbonate in middle eastern shops and ethnic delicatessens around Sydney.

Butter cake with caraway seeds

This "butter" cake with caraway seeds was baked to see how ammonium bicarbonate (carbonate) performed.

The cake was sliced while still hot to let any residual ammonia escape.

The result was perfect.
Recipe.
3T oil, 2T water, 2 eggs, 1t vanilla. 1/2 cup milk., 3/4 cup sugar -- cream together. Sift
3/4 t ammonium bicarbonate (or correct amount of other baking powder) with 2cups flour then mix in 2 t caraway seeds.
Fold in dry ingredients and bake for 55 minutes at 180C.

Yeast Free Bread (Damper)

Preheat oven to 180C.

Grease a 22 X 12cm loaf tin.

Sift together 7 teaspoons Salt Skip baking powder with 2 1/2 cups
plain flour.

Dissolve 2 teaspoons of citric acid in 350ml cold lemonade.

Dump the lemonade in to the flour and mix together without delay. The
blob of mixture should be just the right texture to get it into the tin with some
shoving from a spatula (the silicone type is great for cleaning out the
bowl) and get it into the oven fast as the citric acid reacts immediately
with the baking powder and you do not want to miss any of the rise.

Bake for 50 minutes. The top will not be brown but a tap with the finger should produce a hollow sound.

Cool on a wire rack. Best eaten warm with butter and jam or
try it with the traditional Cockies Joy (Golden Syrup).
One low sodium (80mg/100g) golden syrup is CSR in the squeeze bottle.

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Low sodium grain bread

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