# Bakin' with Crud #1.5: Common Ingredients



## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Don't worry, the bread article is coming, but first let's look at some common ingredients you'll find yourself using a lot.

*Flour:* Used in bread, cakes, biscuits, pastry and other things, flour comes in many varieties and is an essential ingredient. Some of the main varieties include:
Plain flour: Used in biscuits and pastry, plain flour is not treated with raising agents and should not be used in bread or cakes unless the recipe specifically states otherwise.
Bread flour: Available with all different kinds of grain, from wheat to rye, bread flour is specifically for use in making bread and should not be used elsewhere.
Self-raising flour: Flour that has been pre-treated with a raising agent. The main kind of flour used in cakes, it is available in both white and wholemeal varieties.
French flour: Personally I have never used this flour, but it is an ultra-fine flour often recommended for use in making French bread, such as baguette, fougasse and brioche.
Cornflour: Cornflour is used in stocks, gravies, custards and other fillings in order to thicken the mixture. If your filling is too loose, add a little cornflour and stir, if you overthicken the mixture you can always add some hot water to loosen it a little.

*Sugar*: You all know sugar, but you may not know that it comes in so many varieties. All white sugar is refined, and many "unrefined" dark sugars have been treated in some way.
Caster: Used in many cakes, often creamed with butter. Also good for sweet tart fillings. Comes in both white and golden varieties, the golden offering a richer, slightly darker flavour.
Icing: Icing (or frosting) sugar is a very fine powdered sugar that tastes sickly sweet. It is used for making smooth buttercream and other cake toppings, it is also dusted on finished items for decorative purposes.
Granulated: Similar to caster sugar, this is a highly refined kind of sugar you may be familiar with pouring on to unsweetened breakfast cereal such as shredded wheat. It is also sometimes used in baked desserts
Brown: Brown sugar is a darker and less refined sugar, but it is still treated and not truly organic. It is often melted in with butter for a variety of desserts and sticky toppings.
Muscovado: Muscovado is pure unrefined dark sugar with a high molasses content, much like cane sugar. It is similar in texture to brown sugar and can be used in similar fashion. I have also found it an interesting way to spice up a meringue by beating in with the egg white.
Golden syrup: A dense, sticky, liquid sugar that is golden in colour and quite clear, like pale amber.
Black treacle: Golden syrup's pitch black counterpart. Has an overpowering taste and smell and is good for dark, rich fruit cakes and also for darkening rye bread.
Molasses: Like black treacle, but even thicker and maltier. This is the liquid that is made from refining cane sugar. Occasionally called for in very rich cakes.
Honey: The lightest, sweetest and runniest of the liquid sugars, I always mix my yeast water with a spoonful of honey to really bring out the best flavour in a split tin loaf and other breads.

*Fat:* Delicious fat is one of the main things that makes food taste good to the average human palate.
Lard: Pig fat. Exciting!
Butter: Used in pretty much every cake, biscuit, many kinds of pastry, several breads and plenty of fillings, butter in both salted and unsalted forms is equally as essential as flour for most baking recipes.
Cooking fat: A very hard crumbly fat often used in shortcrust pastry.
Margarine: A vegetarian/vegan alternative to butter that can be used in its place in almost any baking recipe.

*Salt:* Another thing that makes things tasty is a good pinch of salt.
Granulated: This kind of salt is best for most bakes because it is easily soluble and mixes in well with all kinds of dough. It should always be added to flour and mixed before adding any other ingredients unless the recipe specifically states otherwise.
Sea or rock salt: A coarse, large grained salt that isn't specifically called for as often. It has a slightly earthier taste than granulated salt and can be used in place of granulated if you so wish.

*Yeast:* Yeast is an essential part of leavened bread, and can also make appearances in hybrid bakes like Danish pastry.
Fresh: Fresh yeast comes in blocks that can be crumbled in to water and dissolved. Provides the best flavour for bread.
Dried active: Dry yeast pellets that can be mixed in the same way as fresh. Less flavoursome than fresh, but perfectly acceptable for bread.
Fast action: Powdered yeast that comes in little sachets. It's perfect for making a yeast dough that doesn't call for water, like the initial process for making Danish pastry.

I think I've covered most stuff here, but I feel like I'm missing something. Oh well, there's always the edit feature.


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