Sour cream and water or milk

There are some surprising substitutes you may use when baking when you run out of milk; one of them is sour cream. When baking, sour cream can be used in place of whole milk, buttermilk, or evaporated milk. Because of its acidity, sour cream gives baked goods a creamier texture.

When making a buttermilk substitute, it is recommended to thin sour cream with water or milk because it is thicker than buttermilk. 3/4 cup (172 grams) of sour cream and 1/4 cup (60 mL) of water or milk should be mixed together until the mixture is smooth in order to substitute for 1 cup (240 mL) of buttermilk in a recipe. Whenever you see a pancake, quick bread or batter recipe that calls for buttermilk, it's there to act as the acid in the recipe.