These ingredients fall into about 7 basic categories, with at least 2 being necessary for any baking excursion. Combining them and cooking them in different ways will create something different.
Amazing – it doesn’t require hoards of different ingredients to bake a plethora of cakes, cookies, doughs and bread.
So what are these basic categories of ingredient that are in all baking recipes? Let’s go through them:
1. Flour
The most common flour is plain flour, sometimes known as all-purpose flour, though self-raising flour is popular for use in cakes and includes raising agents already (ingredient 2).
Flour provides the backbone of most cakes, doughs and breads, usually being the ingredient of the highest quantity, though not always.
There are variations of flour that are more specific for use and so have slightly different compositions, such as bread flour which is higher in protein to produce more gluten.
We’ve mentioned self-raising flour which doesn’t require you to add baking powder too and is often used in cakes and some traybakes.
There are also flours such as wheat flour, rice flour, gluten-free flour, cornflour which are used in baking recipes.
2. Raising Agent
In order to make your bakes rise, you will need a raising agent or leavener. This is sometimes bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) or baking powder, usually a mix of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar (acidic ingredient).
Of course, another way for a bake to rise is through fermentation which requires yeast, another common leavener in breads and doughs. Yeast works by creating and releasing carbon dioxide which makes the dough rise.
3. Sugar
Just like flour, there are many sugar products which can be used to make cakes and pastries. Sugar is also important in yeast reactions.
Many will be familiar with caster sugar, the finely grounded white sugar, the slightly coarser granulated sugar as well as brown and light brown sugar, which contain molasses that makes it stick together more.
Some recipes use artificial sweeteners or natural sugars like honey, fruits and extracts.
4. Salt
Salt is a great flavour enhancer, but you won’t usually taste it. It can balance out sweet flavours, particularly in breads, doughs and cakes.
5. Fats & Dairy
Milk is first on our list of common dairy baking products. Milk is used in pancakes, and more liquid batters as well as icings and sweet mixtures like fudge. Its fat content contributes to the texture and taste of the end product.
Eggs are a binding agent, and is used commonly in cake mixtures. The yolk and the whites have different properties too, the whites being particularly useful for meringues and the yolks for custards and other cremes.
Butter is the most commonly used dairy product, used in pastries, batters, sweet breads, cakes as well as creams and icings, such as buttercream. Margarine is a useful alternative which many people often substitute, as it can be easier to work with as it is typically softer than butter.
Solid vegetable fat/lard is used more by professional bakers when making pastry as it helps create a flaky or short texture depending on how it is added.
Oil, as well as being used in cooking, can be put in cake mixtures, such as muffin mixture or carrot cakes.
6. Add-Ins
There are tonnes of add-ins for baking which can be used, all with their own qualities which can change the bake or enhance it.
Jams can be used to fill cakes and biscuits. Fruits and nuts can be used in batters and decorations. Rolled oats, ground nuts like coconut are used in biscuits, flapjacks and other traybakes. Cocoa can be added to chocolate cakes, and a range of different chocolates added in different ways to make ganache, brownies, and confections.
Flavourings can be added in the form extracts, such as vanilla, almond, mint, lemon or orange flavourings.
Spices provide interest to otherwise ordinary bakes. Ginger and cinnamon are popular in buns and biscuits, but many more spices are used in sweet and savoury bakes, what are your favourite baking spices?
7. Water
Often gets missed off these lists, probably because its in your kitchen already, but has some important applications in baking. It is actually required to hydrate yeast, can be used to crisp up pastries, be used to make icings, and a tool in a ban-marie.
All these 7 types of ingredients come together in different ways and by different techniques to create thousands of varying products.
