So I thought it would be timely to touch on a few essential for anyone trying to find success in the kitchen. No matter what you’re cooking in the kitchen there are some ingredients you just can’t live without.
essential:
all-purpose flour
yeast
white sugar
kosher salt
Flour. It’s a must-have in any kitchen. Use it to make bread, cakes, cookies, thicken soups, gravies – the possibilities are endless.
If you want your bread to rise you’ve got to have yeast. Rule of thumb: less yeast + more rise time = mature, flavorful breads.
Sugar; earth's natural sweetener. So versatile and simple you can add some to just about any recipe. It’s also acts as food to yeast – it helps your dough rise quicker and with breads it adds a a hint of sweetness to the finished product.
optional:
eggs
milk
butter
shortening
oats
corn meal
gluten
corn starch
Gluten is a protein found in and added to flour to give dough its elastic qualities, keep rising and shape uniform, and give bread-products a chewy texture. You can opt-out of this product and simply bake with all-purpose flour, or purchase bread flour. But you’ll see that your bread comes out lighter, chewier, crispier, and less ‘crumby’ if you add a powdered gluten to the mix.
Both eggs, butter, and milk can be used in bread recipes, making for a more moist bread. Whisk up an egg yolk with a dab of milk and you’ll have a nice egg wash to brush on a pre-oven/post-rising loaf of bread or on the tops of some yeast rolls.
You can transform any loaf of bread with a dusting of corn meal or rolled oats over a butter coated top.
Shortening is the key to producing light and flaky baked goods such as home-style biscuits, tarts, pie crusts and more.
A lot of pastry and desert recipes will often call for a tablespoon or two of corn starch. Corn starch produces a thicker pie crust and makes for more tender baked goods.
for other baked goods: cookies, cakes, muffins, etc.
essential:
pure vanilla extract
baking soda
baking powder
brown sugar
cocoa powder
peanut butter
vegetable oil
spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, cream of tartar, cardamon
In addition to the first essential list above, these ingredients are used most often in baked goods recipes. Without baking soda and baking powder you might find it difficult to get any of your cookies to hold their shape.
Allspice and clove are also excellent spices to keep stocked in your kitchen if you enjoy baking lots of cookies.
And peanut butter? Well I don’t think Alan would survive with out it so we’ve always got a jar on-hand. Try adding some to your next brownie recipe and see how it brightens up an old "goodie".
optional:
semi-sweet chocolate morsels
baker’s chocolate - unsweetened or semi-sweet
espresso powder
chopped nuts – pecans, walnuts, almonds
confectioner’s sugar
cream cheese
fruit – fresh: blueberries, strawberries, bananas / dried: raisins, cranberries, apricots
extracts and oils – almond, rum, peppermint, orange, rose, mint
shredded coconut
marshmallows
cold cereals
evaporated milk
corn syrup – light or dark
sweeteners – honey, agave nectar, molasses
Chocolate chips can be added to cookies or bars and baker’s chocolate can be melted down for frosting or grated down to add a nice garnish to a cake.
Blueberry muffins wouldn’t be blueberry muffins without, what? Blueberries. Banana nut bread wouldn’t be…well… you get the picture.
Cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar can be used to make icings, frosting, fillings, etc.
The recipes I'll be posting here will include many of the ingredients I've listed and if you keep your kitchen stocked you should have no problem making anything your (sweet) heart desires!
