Walk into any bakery and you’ll find a full array of pastries, cupcakes, cookies, breads, and cakes. While baking is a rather ancient profession, making this myriad of goods wasn’t always an option, largely thanks to different ingredients. While dough could be leavened in plenty of ways, it required a lot of work and extra ingredients. Bakers couldn’t produce the variety of baked goods or the sheer number of goods they can today. It wasn’t until the invention of baking powder in the 1880s that baking truly took on a new form.

Baking powder allowed bakers to finally leaven any type of dough without the necessity of extra ingredients. Not only did this cut down preparation times, but it allowed them to save on ingredients. Baking powder is simply baking soda along with an acidic agent. Both become activated in water. The baking powder used back then is virtually the same in our modern day. Once you combine dry ingredients with the liquid, you get baked goods that rise quickly and evenly!

Thanks to the advent of baking powder, bakeries can truly offer a dozen different products.