A well stocked pantry

I thought it would be appropriate to start out this blog with what is needed to start out baking. Having a well stocked pantry makes it easy to decide to make something and just get started. There is nothing more aggravating than starting a project only to have to stop in the middle and run to the store! There have been plenty of times I have had to do this so now I try hard to keep my pantry well stocked so that I can get to creating when the urge strikes!
Basics- I keep plenty of flour in the house- all purpose, bread, whole wheat, cake, self rising. If you bake for anyone with gluten intolerance, you should also keep rice, sorghum, and buckwheat flours. For sugars, I keep granulated, organic granulated, powdered, light brown, dark brown, demerara, and turbinado (these last two seem to be the same thing...) Other sweeteners to keep in stock are honey (local is best if you can get it), corn syrup, and molasses.
I like to keep butter in the freezer and take it out as needed. Butter will absorb smells from other foods in your refrigerator so it is important to wrap it in plastic wrap. I also keep organic shortening in the pantry. I rarely use margarine in baking so that is something that I don't routinely keep available.
Other dry goods that you want to think about are things like chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts. Nuts can lose their flavor and get bad fairly quickly so if you aren't going to use them soon, these are also best wrapped in plastic and put into your freezer as well.
To make things easier on myself, I store all of my dry goods in large plastic tubs with airtight lids. This is so much easier and cleaner than keeping things in their bags. A container with a large opening will make it easier for you to measure cups of flour, sugar, etc.
I hope to post some pictures of my pantry once I figure out how to download pictures from my phone since my camera is in the shop!
Happy Baking!