Ingredients That Every Baking Kitchen Needs

The list of baking ingredients you have at your disposal is limited by the space that you have available in your cupboard, refrigerator, and freezer. If you are new to baking, you will be relieved to find out that you do not need every single ingredient there is in order to bake the right food items.

Whether you want to make chewy chocolate chip cookies, or strive to perfect the best Pumpkin pie recipe Australia has to offer, here are all the essential baking ingredients that you need in the kitchen.

Flour

All purpose flour, otherwise known as just flour, can be used for virtually any baking recipe. Flour is made from a mixture of low-gluten soft wheat and hi-gluten hard wheat. It is white in colour, and has a light, fluffy texture to it.

There are specialty flours that might not only be necessary for select recipes, but can give your recipe a variation in taste. Even though you will want to pick up all-purpose flour, it is important to follow the recipe you have for the type of flour that it calls for. Examples of specialty flour include cornmeal, cake flour, whole wheat flour, cornstarch, and self-rising flour.

Leaveners

Leaveners are what cause batter and dough to experience chemical reactions and this is what gets them to rise. There are two types of leaveners for you to buy: biological and chemical.

Yeast is a biological leavener that requires some time for yeast cells to create carbon dioxide. Baking soda and baking powder are chemical leaveners that require acidic ingredients and heat in order to activate, and cause batter to rise. Baking powder has powdered acids included, while baking soda requires acidic ingredients such as vinegar, cocoa powder, buttermilk, or brown sugar.

Sugar

Speaking of sugar, they are commonly known as ingredients to help food items taste sweet. There are many forms of sugar, but the three that every baker needs are granulated sugar, confectioners sugar, and brown sugar.

When many recipes call for just “sugar”, hey will often mean granulated. Granulated sugar comes from sugarcane. Confectioners sugar is super-fine white powdery sugar that is mixed with starch. Confectioners sugar is often used to create cake frosting. Brown sugar is a sugar with molasses. There are many other forms of sugar, and ingredients that include sugar, like maple syrup that you can buy for various recipes.

Salt

In everyday baking, you will often use granulated table salt. Salt is a common seasoning to help food items taste better, but in a different way compared to sugar. Other kinds of salts that you can buy include sea salt and Himalayan pink salt.

Dairy

There are various dairy products to by that all serve different purposes when baking. Unsalted butter gives batter a rich, strong texture. Eggs are what help ingredients be bound together, so that the best Pumpkin pie recipe Australia has a solid form and does not fall apart. The there is milk, which makes your baked goods moist. Other dairy products that bakers may use for recipes include margarine, sour cream, cream cheese, buttermilk, and almond milk.

Oils

Vegetable and cooking oils are included in recipes to help give baked goods texture and flavor. Shortening is a substitute of or an addition to butter in recipes in order to make pie and pizza crusts. You can either create your own shortening using vegetable oil, or buy it separately.

These are the most essential ingredients that you need to make most baked goods in your kitchen. For the most part, ingredients like chocolate and cinnamon can be used to personalize popular bakery items.