Hey guys, happy Wednesday! – Today’s blog post is going to be all about pantry essentials for baking.
Are you new to baking?
Have you been baking for a while?
Are you wondering if things expire?
These are all questions that I get asked from those who don’t bake often, but want to some ingredients around for a rainy day (or covid!) – these are your pantry essentials for baking!
Today I’m breaking it down into 15 pantry essentials that you need to make most recipes!
Wanting to make something more seasonal? You will only need to buy the seasonal ingredient. It could be lemons, a can of pumpkin, blueberries, and anything like that!
If you have these 15 ingredients on hand, then you can usually make just about anything that you’re craving! Alright, are you ready? let’s get into it…
15 Pantry Essentials you need to make just about anything!
Don’t have a lot of time? here’s a quick the list.
Want to know more? Keep reading to find out why I picked these 15 pantry essentials for baking!
- Brown Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Granulated Sugar
- All Purpose Flour
- Cocoa Powder
- Chocolate Chips
- Vegetable Oil
- Baking Soda/Baking Powder
- Salt
- Rapid Rise Yeast
- Milk (I prefer 1%, Lactose Free)
- Butter (salted or unsalted)
- Eggs
- Frozen Bananas (keep reading to find out why!)
- Vanilla
Want to know why I picked these pantry essentials for baking? Keep reading! (I know you are wondering about those bananas!)
#1
BROWN SUGAR, if you’re going to pick between light, dark and all of the other options, I would say light! Most recipes call for a light brown sugar, as dark brown sugar has molasses in it (this can change the texture of whatever you’re baking). Dark brown sugar is usually a good substitute. Although if you are looking to just purchase one of the two, go light!
#2
CINNAMON: I didn’t realize until recently when I met someone through work that doesn’t like cinnamon, how much of my baking takes cinnamon. Literally 8/10 recipes have cinnamon. For me, cinnamon is key – You can buy a little at the bulk barn or buy it at Costco. It doesn’t go bad for a while AND definitely makes baking taste so delicious!
#3
GRANULATED SUGAR: it doesn’t expire, ever, pretty much, because it’s just sugar! Have a bag on hand! I like to keep this in glass jars that you can buy from IKEA, I find that it’s just the best way to store it. If you are leaving it in the cupboard, and you don’t bake often, so this isn’t something to touch very often, then you want to make sure that it’s sealed in something, so that nothing else can get into the bag. Sugar is in most recipes, so it’s key!
#4
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR: I wouldn’t go out and start buying cake flour, bread flour and any of those specialty flours, unless you’re going to bake often. If you’re going to make a cake once, you just need some corn starch and you can make your own cake flour! I’ll cover that in a different blog post!
#5
COCOA POWDER: unless you don’t like chocolate, have some cocoa powder on hand! It’s fairly inexpensive, and has a long shelf life. I will say that quality ingredients, usually, with some things I have no problem buying the no-name, but if you’re going to buy something a little bit more on the brand name side of things, cocoa powder is the time to do it. You can tell the difference between a chocolate that tastes watery and a really rich chocolate, so if you’re going to buy something on the more expensive end, anything to do with chocolate, that’s your time to spend the money!
#6
CHOCOLATE CHIPS: I buy these in bulk, like the BIGGEST bag I can find. You don’t have to get the most expensive chocolate chips, but semi-sweet is the one that you’re going to want to have on hand.
#7
VEGETABLE OIL: a fun fact is that whenever I make muffins, I try not to use a butter based recipe. I ALWAYS look for a recipe that’s based in oil, sour cream or greek yogurt, because they are not as dense! I keep vegetable oil on hand, you can use this to grease a pan if you need, you can put it in a recipe, it’s often called for in things like brownies and things like that. It’s also super cheap for just a jug of it!
#8
BAKING POWDER/BAKING SODA: team effort between BAKING SODA and BAKING POWDER, please note that these expire! If you ever used really old baking powder and wondered why something didn’t rise, it’s defiantly because it was old! I would say for baking soda, replace it every 6 months. Baking powder, though, for sure can’t be kept for longer than a year. I would say on the safe side, replace every 8 months, at least! For me, it never lasts that long!
#9
SALT: It doesn’t have to be a fancy salt, it doesn’t have to be sea salt, literally just salt, that’s like 99 cents in a box is all you need! If you don’t put salt in baking, even if it only says it is an 8th of a teaspoon, trust me, you’ll notice the difference!
#10
RAPID-RISE YEAST: it is usually good for 6 months to a year! I buy my yeast freeze dried because I use it fairly often. If you don’t bake a lot of cinnamon rolls or breads, and that’s not something that you want to get into, then you can just buy a smaller container, or those little packets. They are really great, because most recipes will call for one packet of yeast and then it helps to keep it really sealed and really fresh! As long as it is sealed, yeast is good for awhile, if it has not been opened!
“I always buy lactose free milk…”
#11
MILK: I always buy lactose free milk, it lasts so much longer, so I don’t feel the pressure to use it and I notice a huge difference in my baking! When I started my baking business, I tried to buy 1% milk, because I can buy it in a big jug for cheaper. To my surprise, my baking that whole week did not turn out the same, I had to remake almost every single order and the only thing that changed was the milk. I say, buy lactose free milk, it is good for usually 45-60 days from when you buy it, so there is not a lot of pressure to use it right away!
#12
BUTTER: sometimes butter can be a controversial subject – salted vs unsalted. Whenever you’re going to bake, read the recipe first. ALWAYS my #1 tip. You can check out that blog post here or just buy the butter that you need for that recipe.
#13
EGGS: usually we already have eggs the fridge, like lactose free milk, they usually last for a while, so you don’t have to feel the pressure of using them all right away. If you are making something like a cake, that can take 4-6 eggs, a carton can go quickly, but I find that most cookies and muffin recipes only take one or sometimes two! Always have some eggs, most recipes need them, you can also buy egg replacer if you don’t want to have to worry about things going bad! I do have quite a bit of success with egg replacers if you actually buy the egg replacer and not make your own, I haven’t had much success that way, but that is something that is just sealed and can just go back in the cupboard and live much longer.
#14
Frozen Bananas: This one’s a bit different than from what you’ve seen before, but I’m going to say FROZEN BANANAS. I love to throw them in the freezer! All you need to do is take them and put them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes a banana. I love to have bananas on hand, because banana bread, banana muffins and anything like that is always super easy to make.
#15
Vanilla: Like cocoa powder, I have to say that this is something that you would want to buy a better quality product. The most cost efferent: Artificial Vanilla Extract. The best results: Pure Vanilla. Vanilla is used to bring out all the flavours so using the real deal will make it taste that much better!
Is there any other pantry essentials for baking that you would recommend? Let me know in the comments! Until next week, happy baking!