Homemade All-Purpose Baking Mix

Why This Homemade All-Purpose Baking Mix Works

As the flour, baking powder, and salt are whisked together, the baking powder spreads evenly through all the flour. Later, when this mix is used in a recipe and hits the oven, that baking powder will start to bubble and puff up the dough or batter in every part, not just in random spots. Salt is mixed in the same way, so every bite tastes the same instead of some parts being bland and some too salty.

Once the shortening is cut into the dry mix, tiny bits of fat are coated in flour. Those little pieces of shortening stay scattered all through the mix. When liquid is added later, the flour soaks it up, but the shortening pieces stay solid for a while. In the oven, those fat bits melt and leave small gaps and soft spots, so biscuits or pancakes made from this mix stay tender instead of tough. Because everything is already blended, the mix goes from dry to ready-to-bake very quickly and stays consistent each time it is used.

Mistakes To Avoid

Using the wrong amount of baking powder throws the whole mix off. Too much makes pancakes or biscuits rise fast and then collapse, turning gummy in the middle, while too little leaves them flat and dense, with almost no lift in the oven or pan.

Letting the shortening stay in big chunks instead of working it in evenly causes uneven texture later. Some bites of baked goods end up greasy and heavy where a lump of fat melted, while other parts bake up dry and crumbly because they had almost no fat mixed in.

Storing the mix in a warm spot or in a container that is not fully sealed slowly ruins the baking powder and the fat. The baking powder loses its strength so the mix barely rises, and the shortening can go off, giving the finished pancakes, biscuits, or muffins a waxy, stale feel and smell.

Packing or scooping the flour heavily before measuring leads to a dry mix. With too much flour in the base, anything made from it turns out stiff, chalky, and slow to brown, instead of light and tender.