Butter in baking: Kind of big deal
Butter plays a lot of roles in baking including enhancing flavor, texture, structure, moisture, and can even act as a leavening agent. This post will address a couple of basics that you might encounter as a new baker.
Flavor
For starters, not all butter is created equal. I think it’s best to skip the synthetics and eat the real thing. I met a baker recently and we were bonding over our love of Kerrygold. When it comes to the flavor in butter, he said, “If it’s white, it ain’t right.” Although there are probably 50 shades of yellow when it comes to butter, when cows eat what they eat in the wild, namely grass, the color tends to be richer.
Butter adds fat to your baked goods, and fat = flavor.
Salted vs Unsalted
The main difference between the two is… you guessed it, salt. Choosing which butter to use comes down to what a recipe calls for, but it’s ultimately a matter of preference.
Unsalted butter does not contain added salt, giving the baker more control over how much salt goes in the recipe and the taste of the final product.
Salted butter has added salt to enhance the overall flavor and give it a little kick.
Having both types of butter on hand is a good idea but if you’re an everyday baker and you find yourself not having the preferred type, just use what you have. I know, I know, some bakers just clutched their pearls. If you only have unsalted, simply taste your batter and adjust it by adding some salt to the mix.
Temperature
Recipes call for butter at different temperatures, cold, room temperature (softened), or melted. Follow the recipe. But if it doesn’t specify, my general rule of thumb is to stick with room temperature.
If you change the temperature of the butter, you change the structure of the butter and in turn change the structure of the baked good.
Cold Butter: think flaky, like a pastry
Room Temperature Butter: think tender, like cakes and some cookies
Melted Butter: think dense or chewy, like a brownie
One thing I do if I know I’m going to bake, is pull the butter I need out either the night before or the morning of, so it’ll be ready by the time I start mixing up the ingredients.
I hope this helped get you started using butter in baking. My favorite recipe where butter is a key player is this Honey Beer Bread.
Happy Baking!
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