Baked Goods Category

This is a category of cakes that are made with lots of stiffly beaten egg whites, which makes them light and airy. They tend to be lower in fat than shortened cakes. Examples include angel food cake, sponge cake, and génoise.

A focaccio is an Italian flatbread that resembles a pizza crust without the topping. Many cooks top it with cheese, onions, herbs, eggplant slices, and other ingredients before baking it, but you can also serve it plain.

This is the French version of Italy's focaccia.

This is the traditional French bread that has a hard, dark brown crust and many large air pockets. The baguette = baguet (bah-GET) is the standard tube-shaped French bread, about two feet long. The bâtarde = batarde (buh-TARD) is a bit larger than a baguette, while the baton (bah-TOH), is a bit smaller, and the ficelle (fee-SELL) is much narrower.

These peppery Italian crackers are baked twice, which makes them hard and dry and gives them a long shelf life. They're usually rehydrated with water and then topped with olive oil and other flavorings like herbs, cheese, and tomatoes.

This rich cake is light, pliable, and absorbent, so it forms the basis of many desserts, including tiramisu, baked Alaska, petits fours, and upside down cakes. You probably won't find them unembellished in markets, but they're easily made at home with cake flour, butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and salt.

These addictive British cookies are similar to ginger snaps, but harder. They're often crushed into crumbs for pie crusts.

These hard cookies are flavored with ginger and molasses. They're sometimes added to sauerbraten or beef stews, or they're crushed into crumbs for pie crusts. The British version of this is the ginger nut, which is similar but very hard.

These are used for pie crusts and to sprinkle on desserts. Markets occasionally carry these crumbs, but you'll probably have to buy whole gingersnaps and crush them yourself.

A "gordita" (Spanish for "little fat one") is like a corn tortilla, only smaller and fatter. It inflates a bit when grilled, so it can be split to form a pocket and filled.

These mildly sweet crumbs make a terrific cheesecake or pie crust. Look for the crumbs in baking supplies section, or buy whole graham crackers and crush them yourself. Many markets also carry readymade graham cracker pie crusts.

These moderately sweet crackers are made with whole wheat flour. They make great snacks for kids, but cooks often crush them and use the crumbs to make pie crusts. Cinnamon or chocolate flavored graham crackers are also available.

This is a Dutch fruitcake made with rye flour and candied fruit.

Hardtack is an unleavened, unsalted biscuit that sailors used to eat while on long sea voyages. Since it's very dry, it can be stored for a long time without refrigeration.

These mildly sweet crackers are a good base for hors d'oeuvres, but they're higher in fat than other crackers.

These Swedish flatbread is made with rye flour and flavored with aniseed and fennel seed.

A south Indian specialty, these rice cakes are steamed, then served with sauces.

A specialty of Native Americans in the Southwest, this flatbread is deep-fried just before serving.

Ethiopians use this slightly sour flat bread as both a plate and spoon when eating their traditional stews. The injera becomes saturated with juices, and is eaten at the end of the meal.

Like French bread, Italian bread has a dark, hard crust and a slightly chewy interior.

This German rye bread has a fine texture and is often thinly sliced.

This German specialty is a sweetened yeast bread with currants and almonds baked inside. It's usually shaped in a ring and served at breakfast.

Russians serve this rich, sweetened yeast bread at Easter. It typically has raisins in it and icing on top.

These are tongue depressor-sized sponge cakes that are used to make charlottes, tiramisu and other desserts. American ladyfingers are smaller and moister than their Italian counterparts. If substituting them for Italian savoiardi, use more and toast them briefly in the oven before using.

This Norwegian flatbread resembles a flour tortilla, only it's made with mashed potatoes. It's used as a wrapper for various sandwich fillings. Dried lefse should be moistened, then heated briefly in a microwave.

This delicious and fragrant rye bread is usually flavored with molasses, anise seed, and orange peel. Despite its exquisite flavor, it's hard to find in the United States.

These are soft cookies that are made with either almonds or coconut.

These are rich, cake-like cookies that are shaped like shells. They're often flavored with lemon, orange, chocolate, or almonds.

These very thin crèpes are used to make mu shu dishes. You can buy them in the frozen foods sections of Asian markets, but they're easy to make at home.

This is similar to an almond-flavored biscotti, only smaller and softer. Look for it in Jewish markets.

This matzo cracker is served during Passover to symbolize the unleavened bread the Jews ate during their hasty exodus from Egypt. To conform with Jewish dietary laws, matzo producers can't use leavening agents like baking soda or yeast. But they're still able to give the matzo crackers a bit of airiness by baking them in extremely hot ovens, which causes trapped air bubbles in the dough to expand.

Jews use this during Passover to make pancakes, matzo balls, and other dishes. Many stores also carry matzo cake meal, which is a finer grind of matzo meal.

These thin, crisp slices of bread are often used as a base for appetizers or served with soups or salads. When crushed, they make an excellent breading for meat or fish.

During their Harvest Moon Festival each fall, Chinese families decorate their homes with lanterns and eat moon cakes from beautiful lacquered boxes. The cakes come in different flavors, but they're all rich and subtly sweet.

This Indian flatbread is made with wheat flour. It's usually served hot.

These cookies have a creamy vanilla filling sandwiched between two chocolate wafers. They're addictive all by themselves, but cooks also crush them and use them to make pie crusts or ice cream toppings.

These crunchy cookies are made with puff pastry and sugar.

This large, dome-shaped Italian coffee cake is traditionally offered as a gift during the Christmas season. The cake is slightly sweet, and contains raisins, nuts, and candied fruits. Many Italian markets carry them year round, often packed in pretty boxes.

Panko breadcrumbs have a coarser texture than ordinary breadcrumbs, and they make for a much lighter and crunchier casserole topping and coating for deep-fried foods. They're especially good for breading seafood. Tan-colored panko is made from the whole loaf, white panko from bread with the crusts cut off. Look for both kinds in the Asian foods section of larger supermarkets.

These tortilla-shaped Indian crackers are made with chickpea or lentil flour. Before you serve them, you need to fry them in very hot oil or heat them in a microwave oven until they puff up and become crisp. You can then break them up and serve them with curried dishes, or use them like tortilla chips. They're sold in Indian markets.

This flaky Indian flatbread is made like puff pastry, in that the dough is repeatedly rolled flat, brushed with clarified butter, folded, and then rolled again. When fried, the bread becomes light and flaky. It's served with kebabs and stews, or stuffed with various fillings.

This pliable Italian flatbread is usually stuffed with filling, much as tortillas are in Latin America. The plural is piadine.

This puffy Middle Eastern flatbread is often cut in half, pulled open to form a pocket, and then filled with hot savory ingredients. It's also served like bread at meals, or cut into wedges, toasted, and served with dips. Look for pita bread among the baked goods in supermarkets.

This sweet and tender bread is great for making French toast or for nibbling.

These are very thin potato slices that have been deep-fried and salted. They're crisp and just sturdy enough to dunk into a creamy dip without breaking. They come in many flavors, including barbecue and sour cream. The British call them "crisps," and use the word chips for French fries.

This is a rich buttery cake that's traditionally made with a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. If you don't want to make one from scratch, you can find ready-made pound cakes among the frozen foods in your supermarket.

Pretzels are ropes of dough that are usually shaped into knots, sprinkled with coarse salt, and browned in an oven. They can be soft and breadlike or hard and crunchy. Soft pretzels, also called bread pretzels, are often served with mustard, while crunchy pretzels are eaten just the way they are.

This simple, crusty bread hails from Puglia, Italy, and is great for making sandwiches or dipping into olive oil. Some producers flavor it with olives or cheese.