Ammonium Bicarbonate
florencewlee@hotmail

02/12/05 		Help! I have a recipe that calls for ammonium bicarbonate. Where can I get it?
ellen

02/14/05 		Any compounding pharmacy- call to check.
florence

03/04/05 		I have check with the compounding pharmacies and they wouldn't sell it to me without a prescription. Is there a substitute for it?
ellen

03/04/05 		Oh brother! What is the recipe for and how much does it call for?
Harry T.

03/04/05 		The following information was found on "FoodReference.com"

"Ammonium Bicarbonate

Ammonia powder is ammonium bicarbonate, a leavening agent that is a precursor of today's baking powder and baking soda; it must be ground to a powder before using. It is also known as hartshorn, carbonate of ammonia or powdered baking ammonia. It is still called for in some recipes especially for cookies.

I would suggest substituting an equal amount of double acting baking powder for the powdered ammonia (hartshorn) in a recipe. (Your kitchen would stink of ammonia while the cookies baked, but the cookies would not taste or smell of ammonia.)"

Hope this helps. Harry T.

florence

03/05/05 		Thank you all for your help.
This is a recipe for crullers(deep fried Chinese crullers)
It calls for 3/4 tsp. ammonium bicarbonate.
I might try Harry's suggestion. Thanks Harry.
Harry T.

03/05/05 		I hope the info helps. However to be fair the info and suggestion was from the "FoodReference.com" site. I had to look it up also. I had no idea what the ingredient was and how it was used. I'm just a curious guy and enjoy learning. Thanks to you, I learned something from looking up the ingredient. That is what I like about forums like this we all share and share alike.

Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

florence

03/09/05 		Thanks to Harry T. I've tried the recipe using double acting baking powder instead of ammonium bicarbonate and it seem to work. However, they did not puff as much as the ones I see in restaurants or bakeries. Maybe I need to let the dough sit longer and also check to see if the baking powder might be too old.
ellen

03/10/05 		instead of more baking powder, also add some baking soda (sodium bicarb) perhaps a bit of vinegar or buttermilk to trigger it.