Baking is a science, right? Well, yes, it is. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t mess with the formula every now and then and still get great results.
You can use these ideas whether you have run low on your ingredients but still need to provide a meal or food for your family. That is why I call it emergency baking. You can also use these ideas to save money on your groceries in general.
I’m not talking about substitutes, either. In emergency baking, you use less of whatever is normally required for your baked goods.
This post is inspired by my friend Laura, who recently produced a great loaf of bread with minimal ingredients and a lot of prayer.
Let’s start with sugar.
Sugar is one of those ingredients that can be pinched until it screams. When baking, I usually reduce the amount of sugar that is called for in a recipe. I find that the flavor and texture never seems to suffer. For example, when baking cornbread, I will reduce a whole cup of sugar to three-quarters of a cup. I know a neighbor who reduces all of her sugar in baking by half. The key to reducing the sugar is to start using a little less each time until you reach a level where you notice a difference.
And what if you are out of eggs?
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t always need to use three eggs in a cake mix. Many people will substitute apple sauce for eggs or oil in a recipe. While that is a great strategy, in emergency baking, we are going to focus on reducing, not substituting. Reduce the eggs down to two instead of three, and bake the cake for a couple of minutes less than normally required. Your cake will still be moist and delicious. You can also try leaving out the oil for further savings.
Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Computing Blog here at Families.com where she shares everything from the latest news on technology to cool downloads and fun websites.
More Budget Baking (and Cooking) Substitutions