Todays modern cuisine means there are heaps of different ingredients, which is wonderful from a taste perspective but sometimes it leaves us confused as to what we need in our cupboard.

Join me as we explore flours and sugars.

FLOURS

Flour is one of those things, that is always handy to have in the cupboard. The basis of many recipes like cakes, breads, biscuits, muffins etc it is also handy for thickening sauces and stews.

It is best to store your flour in a dark, cool place in an airtight container. If you do a lot of baking then buy a large bulk bag but if you only occassionaly use it then it's best to buy a small pack. White flour will keep for about 6 months but because whole-grain flours contain more oil, they should be used within a shorter period or they may turn rancid.

Plain flour (All-purpose flour)

Plain flour is a blended wheat flour. It has an intermediate gluten level and is a good all purpose flour for home cooking. It is useful for making sauces, thickening casseroles, coating meat before cooking and rolling out bought pastry.

Cornflour (Corn starch)

Cornflour is made from the starch of the maize grain. Use this flour for thickening sauces. It is best to dissolve it in a little cold water first and then mix into the hot liquid you wish to thicken. If you try to mix cornflour in hot liquid it will form thick lumps that you will be unable to break up.

Wholemeal flour

Is made from the entire grain. Wholemeal flour is ideal for making bread and pastry.

Self-raising flour

Self-raising flour is "white" wheat flour that is sold premixed with chemical leavening agents. It is used for baking cakes, biscuits and desserts.

Strong bread flour

This flour is used for breadmaking It has a higher percentage of gluten, which gives the dough its elasticity. Bread flour can be white, wholemeal and brown.

SUGARS

Sugar at times gets a bad rap, but it is one of those vital ingredients. The most common sugars are extracted from the ?sugar cane? plant. Other sources of sugar are the ?sugar beet?, ?sugar maple? and ?date palm?.

Sugar is best stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry.

White (Granulated) sugar

This is your everyday sugar. Use it to sweeten tea or coffee, on your cereal and with fruit. Often used in general cooking especially in desserts and crumbles.

Super-fine (Caster) sugar

This sugar is much finer and therefore dissolves more quickly. It is asked for in recipes of cakes, biscuits, meringues, syrups, custards and sauces.

Confectionery (Icing) sugar

This is the fine powdery sugar. Used for dusting cakes and desserts as well as making frostings. It will often turn lumpy, so will normally need sifting prior to use.

Brown sugar

This is a moist sugar which is available in varying shades depending on how much molasses is present. The light brown sugar is great in baking. While the dark brown sugars like muscovado are used when a rich flavor or stickiness is required. This is why Christmas cake, gingerbreads, dark puddings, flapjacks and brownies call for a dark brown sugar.

Demerara sugar

This is brown in colour but more granular than the ?brown? sugars. It is partly refined, thus still with some molasses. It is often used for its large, crunchy texture and produces a fantastic crumble topping.

Preserving Sugar

This sugar is specifically created for jam-making and preserves. Its large crystals dissolve quickly, forming a clear jam with a minimum of scum.

Sugar cubes

Not something I use much ? but they always bring back memmories of feeding the horses. Sugar cubes come in white and brown. They are very decorative and are generally used for sweetening beverages.

Happy Cooking

Francis Chang