Depending on your experience, you can either just quickly scan this section or dig in a little deeper. It’s up to you!
butter
There are few things better than butter!
I tend to buy low salt, rather than unsalted because the brand I like doesn’t have an unsalted, but either is fine. If you’re using salted butter normally it doesn’t matter too much so don’t stress.
Butter is about 80% fat and 20% water so if you need to substitute in something dairy-free, it’s best to use a little less oil (which is pretty much 100% fat). But usually it’s not super important.
sugar
If I had to choose just one sugar for baking, I’d probably go with caster (superfine) sugar.
But regular sugar does the job in most places.
Icing sugar (powdered) is useful because it’s super fine particles dissolve in liquid really easily so avoiding a gritty texture.
Brown sugar is just white sugar that has been painted
sweeteners
I tend to avoid sweeteners, because I prefer to eat the real thing.
Be careful of many natural sweeteners like ‘agave syrup’ are super high in fructose which Gary Taubes calls ‘the most lipogenic carbohydrate’.
honey
I love the flavour of real honey. It can be expensive though as far as sugars go.
As a rule, honey is about 75% sugar and 25% water so if you wanted to use brown sugar or white sugar instead,
plain flour (all purpose)
If you’re going to have one flour this is the one to have.
To convert to ‘self raising’ flour, just add heaped 1 teaspoon of baking powder for each 100g (3.5oz) flour in your recipe.
self raising flour
If I’m making scones I tend to have some in the house. Just because that’s what my Aunt Madge and my mother used to use. Otherwise I prefer to just keep plain flour and baking powder.
leavening agents
There are a number of different ways to ‘leaven’ or lighten the texture of baked goods. Whisking egg whites and folding in the airy foam is one. Creaming butter and sugar is another way to physically incorporate air and make light and fluffy cakes.
And then there are chemical ‘leavening agents’. These sound much scarier than they actually are.
baking powder Is a blend of different leavening agents combined with an acid so the powder ends up leaving a neutral pH.
bicarb soda or baking soda Is just one leavening agent, sodium bicarbonate. While it is an excellent raising agent, it needs to be used in moderation because large amount will raise the pH of your food and leave a distinctive ‘soapy’ taste.
substituting In general if a recipe calls for both, it’s best to use both. But if you needed to only keep one in the house, I’d say baking powder is more versatile. To substitute baking powder in recipes that call for bicarb soda, just add a little extra baking powder to make up for the fact that it tends not to be as strong a leaving agent as bicarb soda.
chocolate
Always buy the best you can afford. I tend to use Lindt 70% cocoa solids for dark and their milk chocolate which is about 30% cocoa solids.
Basically the higher the cocoa solids, the less sugar (and milk powder for milk chocolate).
Although it’s not very cool, I really love white chocolate as well. Make sure you buy the real thing made from cocoa butter, not some cheap vegetable oil. Check the ingredient list.
eggs
Egg sizes vary considerably. For baking the standard is to use large eggs (which weigh about 59g or 2oz) . For most things it won’t be a deal breaker
back to: Super Simple Baking Overview
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