Pioneer Tips To Remember For Delicious Baked Goods

If there’s one thing that I absolutely take pride in, it’s my baking.

I was raised eating biscuits. Baking and cooking skills were a source of pride, and insulting somebody’s pie crust was akin to fighting words.

It was scandalous if you showed up to a gathering with a store-bought pie or cookies; I’ll even go so far as to say that a girl would be bake-shamed if she had the nerve to do that.

So I admit that I was socially conditioned to keep my kitchen skills honed, but it’s always been way more than that for me. I love it when somebody groans when they bite into my apple pie or ask for the recipe for my key lime pie cupcakes. It’s just what I do.

I was blessed enough to be raised by women who had mad kitchen skills, and I’ve honed my own over the years, picking up lots of tips and tricks of my own along the way. Now I want to share them with you!

If the article you’re reading provides less than you need about this old skill, grab my book – Forgotten Lessons of Yesterday – for more!

Flour Substitutes

First, you need to understand the difference in flours and how to make substitutions. If you have all-purpose flour, you can seriously make anything that calls for bread flour, self-rising flour, or cake flour. It’s just a matter of taking a few extra steps.

  • 1 cup self-rising flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 ½ tsp. baking powder + ¼ tsp. salt
  • Cake flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 tbsp. + 2 tbsp. corn starch. Sift them together well
  • Bread flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 tsp. vital gluten

Let me tell you, though, I’ve never used bread flour in my life. I’ve found that it’s expensive and, for the results, not worth it. I mean, you do get a lighter bread, but not by much. I’ve lived 40 years without it, so I probably won’t start now. If you’d like, though, go right ahead.

Common Substitutions

How often have you been half-way through pulling out everything to make cookies or a cake just to find out that you didn’t have any baking powder, cornstarch, or even eggs? Well, the next time that happens to you, pull up this article, or just print it out now and put it in your kitchen!

  • 1 tsp. baking powder = ¼ tsp. baking soda + ½ tsp. cream of tartar + ¼ tsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda = 2 tsp. baking powder
  • Buttermilk = 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp. lemon juice or white vinegar. Let it stand for 5 minutes
  • Buttermilk = 1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
  • 1 oz. chocolate = 3 tbsp. cocoa powder + 1 tbsp. butter, veg oil, or Crisco
  • 1 egg = ¼ cup applesauce (not exact, recipe will be a bit crumbly)
  • 1 egg – 1 tbsp. flaxseed + 3 tbsp. water
  • 1 cup sour cream = 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice = ½ tsp. cinnamon + ¼ tsp. ground ginger + 1/8 tsp. ground allspice + 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 vanilla bean = 2 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup vegetable oil = 1 cup applesauce
  • 1 cup margarine … wait, what’s margarine? Butter. Always butter. Seriously though, margarine usually responds more like oil than butter in baking.

Remember that when you’re baking, it’s not like when you’re cooking – measurements matter. Let’s break down the science of what goes into things.

  • Eggs add structure. They’re the glue of the recipe.
  • Baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents. They increase the bubbles present in the batter or dough.
  • Oils and butters give baked goods their texture and moisture.
  • Oil adds moisture, but not flavor, so expect a soft cookie or a light brownie or cake
  • Butter adds flavor but is denser, so expect a crispy cookie, a fudgy brownie, and a dense but buttery cake
  • Shortening is all hydrogenated fat and has a higher melting point. Suitable for use in cookies and pie crusts. Cookies won’t spread and will be softer instead of flatter and crispy.
  • Yeast makes bread rise by infusing air via consuming sugar and excreting carbon dioxide and alcohol.
  • Fruits will always add baking time to any product, whether it’s fruit juice, puree, or whole fruit pieces.
  • Chilling dough made with butter will make it spread less and will add more buttery flavor.

OK, now that you understand the basic physics, let’s get down to some tips.

Pie Crusts

There are a couple of secrets to making a crispy, flakey crust. First, use SUPER cold water. Second, add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar per crust to inhibit the formation of gluten; gluten makes your crust tough. Finally, use butter. Shortening will make it crispy and it’ll hold form a bit better, but it won’t be nearly as flakey.

Cakes

To add an exotic flavor to white or yellow cakes, use almond extract instead of vanilla. It was always the secret ingredient in my wedding cakes and people just went nuts for it.

Let your batter sit for 5 minutes or so before you pour it into the pan and it’ll be lighter. It’s kind of like a pre-rise. With cakes, the more you whip them, the lighter they’ll be.

Cookies

As we’ve already discussed, butter makes them crispy, margarine or shortening makes them cakier. Don’t ever use oil. Chill the dough if you don’t want the cookies to spread as much.

Always cream together the butter and eggs. It makes the texture smooth and easier to incorporate with the flour, and it adds air to make your cookies lighter.

Biscuits vs Bread

Use cold butter and cut it into your flour until you have pea-sized crumbles. Don’t add the liquid until last and don’t mix it any more than you have to in order to make a dough.

The more you mix biscuits, the tougher they get. The same thing goes for cornbread. Bread, on the other hand, should be kneaded for a while, until the dough is glossy and elastic. Kneading makes the bread lighter.

Use lard or butter in your biscuits, or shortening is fine, but adds less flavor, so using at least a little butter is a must. Vinegar is a must in them, too.

Baking is one of my greatest pleasures, and I really hope that these tips were helpful to you. If you have any tips to share, please do so in the comments section below – it’s great learning new things!

If you’ve enjoyed these tips and would like to learn more of the skills that were passed down to me from my ancestors, get my book, Forgotten Lessons of Yesterday.

It comes with a ton of handy, useful skills that I break down in easy-to-follow steps and it comes with five free manuals that are incredible all on their own!

Written by

Theresa Crouse is a full-time writer currently living in central Florida. She was born and raised in the hills of West Virginia, where she learned to farm, hunt, fish, and live off the land from an early age. She prefers to live off the grid as much as possible and does her best to follow the “leave nothing behind but footprints” philosophy. For fun, she enjoys shooting, kayaking, tinkering on her car and motorcycle, and just about anything else that involves water, going fast, or the outdoors.

Latest comments
  • My time is very limited and I do not have time to listen to an hour presentation to find out what the book is about and the cost to purchase one. When I am given a choice to read the info instead of listen to it, I can usually make a decision because I can hurry through the info to get the bottom line of cost.
    lida

    • I don’t hear well so reading is so much easier. I rarely even try to listen to videos unless it has closed captioning. If it’s overly long I won’t watch it through.

    • Lida and Becky, thank you for being interested in our products.
      Here’s an easy trick to get to the text version so you could spend less time before buying: when you get to the video page, try to close the page or to leave it by clicking Back (that arrow pointing to the left from the top bar), and a window will appear asking you if you want to leave. Choose NO, and the text version of the sales letter will replace the video on the screen. You can read it then or save for later use.
      I hope it helps!

  • Thank you for your expert advise. I will use the tips and will be ordering your book.

  • I loved the article. It’s hard for some people (me included) to know what can be substituted for certain things. You did a great job explaining it and giving me ideas! Thanks!

  • I want to order your book, but is it an e-book? If so, $37 is way too much to charge for that. Also, there were five other “books” shown in addition to yours. Are they all accessible for the $37 price? If so, then that may be worthwhile. It is not clear at all on the ordering page.

  • I only have access to a cell phone. I’m unable to drown load all this great information! Are there hard copies available for purchase?

  • Thank you for the great flour conversion chart! I have eaten GF for over 15 years. This is a great reference tool that I will keep handy. Even though I have multiple GF cookbooks and numerous GF recipes, I still need to convert old favorite recipes at times.

  • I have the book but it is an ebook. Do you have a printed copy for sale?

  • Wow- never realized so little coconut flour could replace a whole cup of wheat flour. Ditto for buckwheat.

  • G00d info. However, have to suggest that butter or shortening are not what you use for pie crust !! Lard and not hydrogenated lard either. If you use lard you will not need vinegar for a flakey crust.Would anyone actually use margarine, shortening, Crisco etc in this day and age? I have heard of using oils but vegetable oils are bad for you so watch what you use. Lard is actually good for you if you do research. Makes the best pie crust bar none butter distant second. JR

  • E-books make me angry. Sorry, I want a book in my hand to read before bed, to carry with me. After SHTF, e-books are useless. I havce the actual book, 1st Forgotten, want all the rest, but not a e-books.

  • I want to get printed copies of your books, not “e books”. Yes I have a computer and a smart phone, but what if I want to read something, or need information and I do not have access to the internet? This is Survivopedia, a site for how to survive and thrive in the event life as we currently know it isn’t possible or we choose to live off the grid without access to modern technologies. How can I obtain actual books? This is why I have not purchased books that I want to have from this site.

    • Hello, Kelly

      Thank you for your message and for your interest in our product. One of our colleagues will contact you ASAP regarding your issue.
      Stay safe!
      Survivopedia team 🙂

  • So where’s the part of this article.?

  • Great article. Thanks

LEAVE A COMMENT