Home Ec

Back in the day of my secondary schooling, girls
and boys would be separated - boys going to a technical
drawing class - and girls herded off to Home Economics.
My memories of all that are rather vague (sewing, doing the wash...),
but I do remember that we had some basic baking recipes to memorize.
It all comes down to seeing things on a continuum.

We are going to use flour in all cases: one quarter cup
per serving is the standard measure.
Mix flour with water and one has a bread. Put a leavening agent in,
and one has the makings of a scone (baking powder). Or a French
baguette. (yeast).

Milk tastes good and is nourishing. Cereal and milk are
consumed as hot cereal. Flour is well ground. Add an
egg to flour and milk and one has a pancake. Yes, a cake in
a pan, which will introduce fat to the whole. One puts a little
oil in a pancake mix, and sugar and vanilla to taste. Mixing
in corn flour with the wheat gives the signature taste
of Aunt Jemima pancakes.

Eggs are expensive. The more eggs one adds, the less milk
one needs. But one can bake the thing in an oven; voilà
cake. The more eggs, the more luxurious the cake. Indeed,
some cakes rise on the work of beaten egg whites alone;
because baking powder leaves an aftertaste (it is an industrial
product, based on baking soda, which itself is salty).
One can memorize basic proportions with cups of, although
many French sites use the notion of glass of... A basic
crêpe recipe will use one glass full of flour, with one of milk, and use
one egg. Cook it quickly on a very large surface, and
add booze (Cointreau) and strawberry jam before folding: You are on
the streets of Paris.

Some cakes replace milk with oil; carrot cake, zucchini cake...

Quick breads aka, the infamous banana bread and co, double
flour, one milk, one or two eggs (three medium eggs make two large ones).
They go in the oven and can thus accomodate bananas, apple sauce
and the like. Chunks of nuts add taste, or can be ground as flour.

Which brings me to the bottom line: learn to cook with actual
milk, eggs and sugar.

The standard oven temperature is 350° F.

There are different textures of flours (important
for bread making), but the above works for standard flour.
Pastry flour has baking powder incorporated.