How to Build a Baking Pantry, Part II: Ingredients (Advanced)

[This is Part Two in a four-part series on stocking a baking pantry. You can catch up on basic ingredients by checking out How to Build a Baking Pantry, Part I: Ingredients (Beginner).]

So, you’ve mastered chocolate chip cookies and quick breads and feel like you’re ready to move on to more advanced baking, but you aren’t sure exactly what you may need to add to your pantry. This list is for you! In this second installment of Building a Baking Pantry, we’ll be building on the list from Part I: Ingredients (Beginner) and running through all of the ingredients you may want to keep on hand if you’re planning on taking your baking up a notch.

There were many comments on the Basic Ingredients post asking what type of containers I use to store my flours and sugars in. I use Lock n’ Lock storage containers, which I have found at Target, Wal-Mart, and some (larger) local grocery stores that have a food storage section. You can also find them online here.  As far as sizes go, the 16.75-cup square container will hold a 5 lb. bag of flour or sugar, and the 5-cup square container will hold 2 lb. bags of brown sugar perfectly. In addition to those I use a variety of other sizes for almost all of my other ingredients like powdered sugar, cake flour, my cocoas, baking powder, baking soda, salt, etc. They keep everything fresh and are so easy to stack and organize. I have also found that if you drop them (which I may have done a few, or 20, times) they stay perfectly sealed.

This list is comprised of what you’ll find in my ingredient stash, and I think it’s pretty all-encompassing; however like I had mentioned yesterday – if you notice anything that is missing please shout it out! I’ll edit the list to include it, so I appreciate your feedback. The hope here is to help and inspire new bakers to have the tools needed to conquer the kitchen! Enjoy!

In the Refrigerator:

♦  Heavy cream

♦  Buttermilk

♦  Yeast – Active Dry

♦  Yeast – Instant

In the Pantry:

♦  Whole wheat flour

♦  Bread flour

♦  High-gluten flour (you can order this at King Arthur Flour, and I’ve also seen it at Sam’s Club)

♦  Semolina flour

♦  Malt powder (used when making bagels)

♦  Dark brown sugar

♦  Superfine sugar

♦  Sanding sugar (for topping some cookies)

♦  Meringue powder (used to make royal icing for decorating sugar cookies)

♦  Malted milk powder

♦  Sweetened condensed milk

♦  Dutch-process cocoa powder (I get mine from Penzeys)

♦  Molasses

♦  Extracts (lemon, orange, anise, peppermint, rum – to name a few)

♦  Vanilla beans

♦  Espresso powder

♦  Crystallized ginger

♦  Candied orange and lemon peel

♦  Jams and preserves (your favorite flavors) for filling cookies and cakes

♦  Poppy, sesame and sunflower seeds

♦  White chocolate (bar and chips)

♦  Bittersweet chocolate (bar and chips)

♦  More chips (milk chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, mint, caramel, toffee, cinnamon, M&Ms, etc.)

♦  Liquors (Amaretto, Triple Sec, Frangelico, Kahlua, Kirsch, Dark Rum are a few that come to mind)

♦  Gelatin (unflavored, like Knox)

Did I miss any ingredients? Are there any other ingredients in addition to these and the basics that you keep on hand and use often that I haven’t listed here? Share them below!

Stay tuned for final two installments of this series, to be posted next Thursday and Friday, where I’ll talk about baking equipment. From baking pans to gadgets, we’ll cover them all!

Part III: How to Build a Baking Pantry, Equipment (Beginner)
Part IV: How to Build a Baking Pantry, Equipment (Advanced)

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