A Beginner’s Guide to Baking: Everything You Need to Know

There are several kinds of flour. All-purpose Flour is your all-around baking assistant. You can use it for pretty much anything, including bread. However, bread made from this type of flour is usually softer in texture.

Whole Wheat Flour is typically used for breads and is a good source of fiber. It isn’t suitable for cakes and cookies, and the baked goods it yields have a coarse texture.

Cake Flour, as its name suggests, is for making the king (or queen) of all desserts. It’s made from a combination of red winter wheat and soft white wheat. Aside from high sugar-to-flour ratio cakes, it’s also used in pie crusts, biscuits, and pastries. 

Flour is so versatile it’s also used for the household. 

Cornstarch literally comes from corn. It’s main role is to serve as a thickening agent and is also used for sauces and gravy.

Leavening agents are the magic ingredients that make your baked goodies rise when they’re in the oven.

Steam is one of them. When water turns into steam, its volume rises significantly and expands your dough.

Baking Soda and Baking Powder are both leavening agents in their own right. However, you can’t just substitute one for the other. Baking soda needs to be mixed with something acidic like lemon juice for it to produce carbon dioxide, while baking powder already contains an acidic ingredient. Adding water triggers the chemical reaction.

And finally, yeast. Essential for fermentation, which is what makes your dough rise. We explain this in more detail in a later section.

Eggs get so many jobs done when it comes to baking. But their most important function is to provide structure. Desserts that need to hold their structure, such as souffles, are egg-based.

Additionally, eggs also give your goodies moisture and help you achieve that golden color. A lemon meringue cake isn’t yellow because of the lemon. You can thank egg yolks for that!

Fats refer to butter, shortening, and vegetable oil.

Butter gives any baked good flavor. Aside from that, it also adds moisture and helps tenderize the texture of what you’re making.

Shortening gives pie crusts and pastries their desired flakiness. Like butter, it produces a tender texture and rich flavor. It is also good for frying.

Oil is an important ingredient in breadmaking. It gives the moisture needed in kneading dough and also helps extend the shelf life of baked goods.

The most common sugars and sweeteners used in baking are granulated or white sugar, brown sugar, and honey.

Granulated sugar is used in most baking recipes. It sweetens, tenderizes, and adds moisture to your baked goods.

Brown sugar is granulated sugar with molasses mixed in, hence the difference in texture. It aids with caramelization and helps with the browning process.

Honey is a sweetener alternative that has certain health benefits, such as a lower glycemic index. It also holds back the growth of mold in baked goods.

Salt, like sugar, adds flavor. It also gives bread volume, and adding more salt to the dough hardens it. In some cases, bakers like to slow down the fermentation process by adding more salt to their dough.