We all have our own staple ingredients we use daily from our pantry which makes our favourite family meals. Being a baker means having those staple ingredients to create perfectly simple recipes or be used as a base in most recipes. As time goes on, you will naturally add your own inclusions which will add to your staple pantry ingredients e.g., spices, nuts, coconut etc… But for now, below is a list of the top 11 staple ingredients that all bakers should have in their pantries.
- Flour
Cakes, pies, doughs, pancakes! All these delicious treats use flour. Depending on your dietary needs, there are many different flours you can use e.g., wholemeal flour, gluten free flour, buckwheat flour etc… I believe always having all-purpose flour, cake flour and bakers’ flour on hand is essential to any baking.
2. Sugar
Caster sugar, powdered sugar and brown sugar are the three most important sugars to keep in your pantry. Most recipes call for caster sugar (or granulated sugar), so always keep it stocked in your pantry!
3. Fats
Butters and oils! Unsalted butter is essential and is what most baking recipes use. But you can also use vegetable/olive/coconut oil in most recipes.
4. Raising agents
Baking powder and baking soda is what is used to help those beautiful cakes rise! Without them you have… well… a flat pancake.
5. Eggs
Eggs are a staple not only in savoury food but in sweet. Eggs are so versatile they help recipes bind, they aerate, they give the recipe a lush flavour. They are a key ingredient to many recipes.
6. Milk/cream
Brulee, creams, custards, mousses yum! Keep a L of milk in your fridge until the mood strikes for a deliciously creamy dessert.
7. Cocoa powder
Chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, chocolate tarts… Can this sentence get anymore sexier?
8. Salt
Salt is underrated in baking; it is the balancer! Using it correctly helps cut through that sweetness. It is marvellous, do not underestimate its powers.
9. Corn-starch
Let’s get things thicky thick. Now all I can think of is getting that custard nice and thick and creamy. Yum!
10. Baking chocolate
Baking chocolate is generally unsweetened, but I like to keep normal chocolate in the house when baking. Try your hardest not to sneak a cube or two throughout the day (guilty).
11. Gelatine
A great way to thicken or stabilise desserts. There are plenty other stabilisers out there which you can pick up along the way, but to get that gorgeous wobble wobble, use gelatine.
