The stuff I use

I bake because it is mostly cheaper and tastier than buying ready made.  Many of my recipes are based on a few basic recipes that are easy to change.  It also makes it more likely that you will have most of the ingredients already available in the pantry.

I don't pay any more than I have to for my ingredients, in most cases value or own brands will do just as good a job as the more expensive versions, if cheap won't do I will tell you.  If I specify a particular thing such as butter, it is because using soft baking spread it is because the recipe won't work if you use the soft spread.  I do use some types of spread, I like the Lurpak type spreads for flavour, but I use own brands from Aldi or Lidl because the Lurpak is too expensive.  Lots of companies are launching fancy types of fats for cooking with, I haven't tried them, they are very expensive and I fail to see any reason why they would produce a better result.  However if I ever find some reduced I shall probably test them out.

Suga


When it comes to white sugar then it is the same product in everyones bag.  It might claim to be Fairtrade, it might claim to be organic but the product in the bag will still work in the same way.  Cynic that I am I do not trust labels that claim to be more virtuous than any other as frankly there is no way to tell if the claims are true!  If you feel you want to buy these products that is up to you, but try to shop around for the best price.  What does matter is that you buy the right sort of sugar for the job.  If the recipe says caster sugar then you usually do need caster sugar, it is finer, meltsvfaster and generally gives a lighter cake or biscuit.  In an emergency you can substitute granulated but the end result is usually heavier.  In some recipes you can use granulated, if so I will tell you as granulated is usually cheaper.  Some recipes use brown sugar, but if you don't have it most recipes will tolerate white instead, again if it won't I'll try to tell you.

If the recipe says plain flour or self raising then it is important to use the right one.  You can use plain flour and add baking powder, but every baking powder seems to suggest different amounts to use so it is hard to predicy whether or noit you will get the same result.  Again I buy the cheapest I can find, generally the only difference is that you may not need to use a sieve.  I'm not willing to pay double the price to save the bother of using a sieve.  Some recipes need more specialist flours, but I will cover those when I get to them.

Sorry folks that is enough for now, it probably feels like you are back at school.  Anyone who knows me will tell you I talk too much.

I might get to a recipe soon.

Karen Lizzie
xxx