5 INGREDIENTS EVERY BAKER SHOULD HAVE :
Hello all of you. It's been a long time since a 'Baking Basics' article has been published on the blog. So I thought I should write one now.
I have already written a detailed article titled HOW TO START BAKING? for new bakers. It is a detailed description about the procedure one should follow if he/she is going to bake for the first time. Another important article you should have a look at is ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR BAKING. In this article, I have sum up the basic tools and equipments one should have to start baking. I hope you would enjoy reading these articles.
A baker weather a home baker or a professional baker, should have some particular ingredients all the time with him. These ingredients form the basis of any baked delicacy. Ofcourse, depending upon what you are baking, the ingredients would differ but these are some of the constant baking ingredients which are needed no matter what you bake.
Now let's have a look at these 5 INGREDIENTS THAT EVERY BAKER SHOULD HAVE :
1) FLOUR -
Flour is undoubtedly the most important baking ingredient. Anything you have to make weather it is a cake , cupcake or a cookie; flour is needed. Even if you have to make savoury baked delicacies like pizza, buns, breads, etc, you still need flour.
HOW TO USE FLOUR PROPERLY?
Always remember friends, whenever you use flour, ALWAYS SEIVE IT. When you seive flour, it makes it airy. This helps in making spongy cakes and cupcakes. Also when you would seive flour, baking powder or baking soda together, they would mix together nicely.
If you want to make your baked items healthier, you can replace flour with wheat flour.
Thus always have flour if you want to bake. It is the basic ingredient which you would need everyrime you bake.
2) Sugar -
Sugar is another important ingredient for baking. Sugar is needed in cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, biscuits etc. You should use powdered sugar for baking. You can easily get powdered sugar in market. But if you don't get it, no problem. You can make it at home also. Take a blender and fill it with sugar. Grind it till it gets powdered. You can now easily use it for baking. For making tasty frostings for cakes and cupcakes, you need sugar as well. Thus sugar is an important ingredient.
3) Butter -
Butter is also required for baking. Butter provides mositure to the baked goods. It makes cakes and cupcakes spoongy and soft. Remember always USE BUTTER THAT IS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. This is a very important baking tip.
Now, most of the recipes ask for creaming the butter and sugar till sugar dissolves in butter properly. Bakers usually use hand mixer for mixing butter and sugar together. If you don't have a hand mixer, you can wisk butter and sugar together using a spatula as well.
Like but
ter, oil is also an important ingredient as many recipes use oil instead of butter.
Also for making buttercream frosting, butter is required in a good quantity. Thus always have butter if you are going to bake.
4) Eggs -
Eggs also make cakes and cupcakes spongy. Eggs should also be used at room temperature. If you are vegetarian, then ofcouse you wouldn’t bake cakes using eggs. You can easily substitute eggs with other ingredients like banana, yogurt and oil. Below is a simple chart which shows the substitutes of an egg -
You can use this chart to replace egg with ingredients like banana, yogurt and oil. In this way, you can easily bake cakes, cupcakes and many other things without eggs.
5) Baking Soda and Baking Powder -
Baking Powder and Baking soda are the leavening agents. They help the batter to rise. These are very very essential for baking. Always keep in mind that your baking powder and baking soda should be fresh. If they are expired, they won't help your batter in rising. Therefore always use fresh Baking Powder and baking soda.
Thus these are the 5 INGREDIENTS EVERY BAKER SHOULD HAVE.
