Betty Crocker shrank cake mixes again

[launderess]

Well yes, all that you say is true.

But keeping things in perspective one must bake fairly frequently to use up a supply laid in, otherwise things can go off or something.

Sugar lasts ages. Flour has a definite shelf life and or may get buggy if not stored properly.

Back in day people often baked weekly if not more frequently. That and or had other uses for flour so it was used up rather quickly.

Above assumes one was using all purpose flour. Myself prefer cake and or bread flour for those purposes each. Then there is White Lilly for biscuits and certain pastries or crusts.

 

[ea56]

I use UnBleached White and Whole Wheat flour, 10 lbs of Un Bleached White flour per month and 5 lbs of Whole Wheat flour per month to bake all of the bread, rolls, buns, cakes, pies and cookies that we eat in our home. I pay currently $2.79 for 5 Lbs of Un Bleached White flour and $2.49 for 5 lbs of Whole Wheat flour. I pay $3.19 of 4 lbs of sugar and buy about one bag per month.

I bake approximately 2 loaves of WW bread every 10 days, 1 doz dinner rolls every Sunday for the week and approx. 8 each of hot dog and hamburger buns per month. Every week an bake a weekend dessert to last for 3 days. And no, we aren’t blimps and haven’t gained weight because of the baking. We eat ALL of our meals at home and they are home cooked, no take out or going out.

I get excellent results without the need for either cake or bread flour. Being retired I have the time. The bread baking started out as kind of a hobby, bur soon became a regular thing because I enjoy doing it and my husband enjoys the fruits of my labor. It wasn’t meant to be an exercise in economization, but the money savings has been a happy side effect.

I buy my Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise yeast by the pound online for about $10 or less per pound and a pound of yeast lasts about 4 to 6 months.

Of course if one buys more expensive specialty flours baking can be much more expensive, but not really necessary IMHO. Proper technique and skill can achieve excellent results without premium expenditures.

Eddie

 

[circlew]

I buy C&H Baker's Sugar in the 4 lb. carton. It's what I use to make sweet tea. My neighbor usually buys sugar in 25 lb. bags when she is doing a lot of baking.

As for flour, most cakes I've made I used all purpose, and they turned out fine. However, I prefer Swans Down cake flour when making German Chocolate cake. The texture is better.

 

[ea56]

To make an easy substitution for cake flour for every cup of cake flour called for in a recipe use 1 cup All Purpose flour, less 2 tbls. and replace those 2 tbls. with 2 tbls. of cornstarch.

Eddie
https://www.thekitchn.com/the-easy-...-substitute-baking-tips-from-the-kitchn-44521

 

[dermacie]

What makes it worse is if you have a recipe that uses a cake mix, now the amount is off.