Essential Baking Ingredients Every Kitchen Needs

Learn which ingredients you should always have stocked in your kitchen for baking.

Even if you’re not an avid baker, chances are you’re going to find yourself baking at least once in awhile. Maybe it’s because you have to take a dessert to a party, need to make a loved one a birthday cake, or you just get the sudden urge to make a batch of cookies.

No matter what the reason, you’re going to need the right ingredients to prepare your baked good. There are certain ingredients that can be found in most recipes, whether it’s for cookies, a cake, or anything in-between.

That’s why Blain’s Farm & Fleet is here to show you some staple baking ingredients that every household should have on hand.

Flour

You can find flour in virtually every baked good, including cakes, cookies, and breads. So you’re going to want to have it handy.

There are many different kinds of flours to choose from. But the most common, basic type for baking is all-purpose flour. If you don’t bake often or don’t bake anything too intricate, all-purpose flour will be just fine.

Some recipes require different types of flours, such as bread flours or cake flours. Unless you’re baking a lot, these aren’t necessary to have at all times.

There are also gluten-free flours for people avoiding gluten. There are many types of these to choose from, such as ones made out of nuts or seeds.

Sugars

If you’re going to be making any sweets, you’ll definitely want to have some sugar in your pantry. Standard granulated sugar is perfect for baked goods.

You’ll also want a bag of brown sugar. Dessert recipes often include it in addition to regular white sugar.

It’s also a good idea to have powered sugar. Powdered sugar is used to make most frostings and icings. You can also use it to dust on top of finished desserts.

Baking Powder & Baking Soda

Baking powder and soda are known as leaveners. Leaveners help your baked goods to rise. So if you want those nice, fluffy cookies and cakes, you’re definitely going to want to have some of these.

Eggs

Eggs are another essential baking ingredient. They are what holds your food together and gives it structure. Eggs also play a part at adding moisture to your creations.

Make sure you get large eggs, as that’s what most recipes call for.

Butter

Butter serves so many purposes in baked goods. It helps create a soft or flaky texture in your food. Plus, it enhances the flavor greatly.

Opt for an unsalted butter, so you are able to control the saltiness of the food better.

Salt

No matter if you’re baking something sweet or savory, you’re going to want to add at least a pinch of salt. Salt works to balance and enhance the flavors in baked goods.

For baking, you should just use plain table salt.

Vanilla Extract

Vanilla extract is added to many sweet recipes. It makes the flavor of your desserts much richer. Try to get a pure vanilla extract rather than an imitation one.

There are many other extract flavors to choose from. So if you want to up your baking game a notch, you could get some other ones, like almond and peppermint to try out, too.

Oil

Many baking recipes call for oil. Its main job is to keep the final product nice and moist. It’s also good to have for greasing your pan, so your creations won’t stick to it when they’re done.

A regular canola or vegetable oil will work just fine for this.

Chocolate

Unless you’re exclusively going to be baking vanilla desserts, there are a few different variations of chocolate you should have on hand.

You should have cocoa powder to make different batters chocolate flavored.

You should also have some chocolate chips on hand. You can use them in chocolate chip cookies, or melt them to use in other chocolate desserts.

Semi-sweet are what most recipes call for. But if you prefer milk or dark instead, get whichever you like!

Spices

Spices are another great thing to have if you want to make your baked goods more flavorful. One of the most common ones is cinnamon.

But you can also stock up on ones like nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and ginger. These will definitely come in handy for fall and holiday recipes.

For more baking tips, visit our Cooking & Recipes Blog.