Pantry Party Part III: The Baking Pantry

When you're trying to bake, and you get all pumped up to make something, there's nothing worse than opening up the cabinet and realize you have - NOTHING. Stocking your pantry up ensures that you'll always be able to whip up a quick batch of muffins to bring with you anywhere, or bake up a loaf of bread for dinner or sandwiches.

Here's what I keep in my baking pantry. I'll categorize it based on how often I use these ingredients.

Use daily/almost daily/can't make much without these things:

• All Purpose Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Sugar
• Butter
• Eggs
• Baking Soda
• Baking Powder
• Brown Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Salt
• Vanilla Extract
  
• Milk
  

These are really helpful to have, but you can make things without them:

• Chocolate chips (cookies, muffins, truffles, frosting, ganache)
  
• Yogurt/Sour Cream (coffee cakes, substituting for milk, scones)
  
• Molasses
  
• Ginger
• Corn syrup
• Cream of Tartar (stabilizing egg whites)
  
• Bread Flour (certain bread recipes, but mostly you can just use all purpose instead of bread flour)
  
• Active Yeast (keep in the fridge)
  
• Cornstarch
• Almond Extract
• Shortening (vegetable or lard)
  
• Buttermilk/Buttermilk Powder (can be made by adding 1 T. vinegar to 1 c. milk or soy milk)
  
• Vinegar
• Ground Cloves
• Ground Nutmeg

With these ingredients, you're on your way to making most things. You can make:

1. Cinnamon Bread
2. Low(er) Fat, Whole Wheat, Chocolate Chip Nibbles
3. Crumbly Crumble Coffee Cake
4. Very Vanilla Vegan Cupcakes
5. Whole Wheat-ish Blueberry Muffins (all you have to do is buy the frozen or fresh blueberries!)
6. Molasses Crackle Cookies
7. Pastry Creme
8. Delectable Creme Puffs
9. Whole Wheat Bread
10. Dinner Rolls

When stocking your pantry, keep your eye out for sales, they happen on baking supplies around the holidays. Even if you don't need molasses, if it's on sale, pick it up. When you finally need it you'll be glad you did!

It's fun to try new baking recipes, and keeping your baking pantry stocked allows you to be creative and experiment with different ideas and recipes without running to the store.

Stay tuned for next week's final installation of the Pantry Party, where I discuss my fruit/veggie bowl pantry and my oil/vinegar/spice pantry!

scrimpyTips:

- If you're looking to really stock your pantry in one trip, Stop and Shop is the cheapest place to buy baking supplies. However, they don't have organic goods. If you're looking for organic, hit up Whole Foods, they're not the cheapest, but they have great prices on butter, sugar, and flours.