Ingredients: A Guide To What You Really Need
I guess this is a loaded topic, because of course we all want to make the best bakes we can, all the time. But here’s the thing — there are some things that not only make no difference whatsoever to the finished product, but could break your budget if you think they must be used all the time. But how do you know what, and when, and even why to use differing qualities of ingredients in your baking?
I’m here to tell you!
BUTTER:
Good butter is amazing on a hot roll. Amish, Irish, French, Danish… all those high quality butters have really amazing flavor, no doubt. And if you’re making an Irish turnover or scone, a palmier, or something like a butter cookie where butter is the star, you need a good butter. (Just be aware that these butters have a higher fat content, so they do not work well in cookies that you want to hold their shape, unless you fortify them a bit with extra flour.)
But in your every day baking? Nope. Butter has a job to do in baked goods, but, 90% of the time, that job isn’t flavor. Fat gives you moisture, flakiness in a pastry, it helps things brown, and gives structure to the bake. A decent but inexpensive brand will do that just fine.
I typically buy butter at Costco, where it’s usually under $2.60/pound. Lidl’s brand is also fine, as are most store brands. (I will say the exception is Piggly Wiggly, which has a weird almost gelatinous quality to it.) When it counts, buy the good stuff — just save it for then!
FLOUR:
There are various kinds of flour, and you want to make sure your KIND of flour matches what you’re baking. Most of the time, you’ll use all purpose, and there’s no need to spend a ton of money on an expensive brand. I buy flour in 25lb bags from Costco, but if we ever ran out at the shop, we would buy the store brand all purpose flour. There are not a lot of brands of cake or bread flour, if you need those, but again, most of us can’t tell any difference in the taste.
The thing that WILL make a difference is to always always always sift your flour before you use it. Always. Even if it says pre-sifted, you will be surprised how chunky it can be.
SUGAR:
Basically everything I said about flour you can take for sugar, whether standard granulated, confectioners/10X, brown sugar, or sanding sugar.
For granulated and confectioners sugar, always always sift it. Very often, confectioners will say pre-sifted, but be quite crunchy. If you missed the Equipment post, you can see my recommendation on an inexpensive strainer/sifter.
EGGS:
Save your great local free range eggs for breakfast — you will not be able to tell a difference in your bake. I’d like to say you can, and of course, a free range organic well-treated chicken is a wonderful thing. If you’re making one cake, and you have great eggs, by all means use them. But if you’re about to use a dozen or two… Don’t bother.
An exception to this, and it’s not necessary but you probably would notice a difference, is for quiche filling.
When it comes to using non-chicken eggs, you will have to go by volume. A standard large chicken egg is about 1/4 of a cup. Most duck eggs I’ve eaten have been between 1/3 and 1/2 cup — they can have some big eggs! It’s easiest to beat the egg and then remove about 1 tbsp at a time to get the desired volume. Be aware that duck eggs have a much richer taste than a chicken egg, even a free range one, so it will change the taste of your bake a bit (usually for the better, but it might be more noticeably “eggy”).
RAISING AGENTS:
This is another area where you don’t need to spend money at Williams Sonoma. Baking soda and baking powder are pretty standard across the board — it’s just chemistry, after all. Baking soda can lose its oomph fairly fast, and if you haven’t used yours in awhile, you can test it before using: put a teaspoon of baking soda in a small dish and add a splash of vinegar. If it bubbles up, it’s good to use.
MILK & BUTTERMILK:
Use FULL FAT, but any brand. Store brands are fine. When you are baking, the fat in the dairy is taken into account in the recipe for more than flavor, and it cannot be substituted for a low or nonfat milk for the same result.
Buttermilk is the same — get full fat. If you can’t find full fat buttermilk (my local Harris Teeter carries 5 brands/sizes of buttermilk, and none are full fat. I can’t even explain that!), you can make an easy buttermilk substitute with 1 cup of whole milk plus 1 tsp of white vinegar. The vinegar will curdle the milk instantly, give the little bit of tang, and also help activate your raising agent(s).
SOUR CREAM/YOGURT:
You can use any FULL FAT sour cream. In a pinch, you can substitute full fat Greek yogurt for sour cream, but it will have more of a tang. You can sub either of these for buttermilk if you need to, as well, but your batter will be less liquid.
SALT:
For all baking, use UNIODIZED table salt, coarse kosher salt, and a fine grain sea salt, like Pink Himalayan. In a pinch you can use regular iodized table salt, but it does impart a slight chemical flavor. A container of uniodized salt is about 26 cents…. and will last forever. So just get one and save it for baking!
Kosher salt is good for seasoning anything savory going into your bakes, like sautéed vegetables, Irish mashed potatoes, and butternut squash.
A fine grain sea salt has less sodium and a less assertive flavor than more processed table salt. It’s perfect for buttercreams and glazes. A flaked sea salt can make a really nice pop of salt on a chocolate or peanut butter cookie/brownie, so if you have some or find some, it’s nice (but not necessary) to have on hand.
VANILLA:
There are big differences in flavors in vanillas, but also you could have to mortgage your house to buy vanilla made in Madagascar right now due to a crop loss. So while ideally you would use a Bourbon Vanilla from Madagascar, save that for when the flavor REALLY matters.
Costco has a good 16oz pure vanilla, and your grocery store or Trader Joes will have it too. If you can only afford one, get a name brand, ALWAYS pure, vanilla. (Ask for some bourbon vanilla for your birthday!) Vanilla bean paste is useful for glazes and buttercreams, but isn’t as flavorful as vanilla extract so I usually have to use some of each. It’s nice to have on hand, though.
Mexican vanilla is much less expensive right now, but also you have to be really careful on what you buy. A lot of Mexican vanilla is more chemical than vanilla, so make sure it’s pure or 100% vanilla. NOT vanillin, which is an artificial vanilla substitute. With Mexican vanilla, which is great to use right now in the current vanilla crisis, I typically use about 1/3 of what a recipe calls for with Madagascar vanilla — 1 tsp instead of 1 1/2, for instance. It has a different and more aromatic flavor and can overpower a bake easily.
In my opinion, do not use Tahitian vanilla. Ever. It’s VERY floral and perfumey, and difficult to make subtle. A lot of ice creams have been going to Tahitian vanilla since the crop loss in Madagascar, but I would steer clear of it in your baked goods.
CHOCOLATE:
There are a few ways you can use chocolate in baking, as well as several kinds. This is a quick overview.
Cocoa: For regular cocoa, get the store brand or Hershey’s. Usually, the price isn’t too different. For a chocolate cake/cookie where you are only using cocoa and no melted chocolate, I’d use Hershey’s or a good brand. You want the chocolate to shine.
For Dutch process cocoa, which is cocoa without the alkaline, you can use Hershey’s Special Dark, or Droste Cocoa Powder, which has a great chocolaty flavor.
For chips, I like Toll House or, for a more upscale treat, Ghirardelli chips. The Bittersweet Ghiradelli is especially good. But for most things, and unless Ghiradelli is on sale, Toll House has any kind of chip you want and they’re good. If you’re making chocolate ganache, go with good chips!
For melted chocolate, I like Bakers or Ghiradelli.
White chocolate is one place where spending more matters, since white chocolate can be very tasteless and waxy. Get Ghiradelli, or better yet, Guittard. Our local Harris Teeter carries this upscale brand, but you can get it on Amazon, as well.
SUBSTITUTES:
A word on substitutes: If you have a real reason to make a substitution (I have celiac, for instance, or you might be diabetic, or allergic to eggs, or vegan), tread carefully. I did a Facebook Live on substitutions, and I’d suggest listening to that, as you can’t just do it willy nilly. Baking is all about CHEMISTRY, and every base component has a job to do besides flavor. If you remove or substitute one, your bake will be sub-par at best, and terrible at worst.
My feeling on bakes is that, if I’m going to splurge and have something, a GOOD few bites will satisfy me, whereas a mediocre whole piece will make me just want more because it’s not at all satisfying. For me, that’s something gluten free but otherwise containing allllll the good stuff: butter, sugar, buttercream or whipped cream. Everything! And then I’m really content.
