Are You Using the Right Butter in Your Baking?
Why is butter good for baking?
Butter plays many important roles in baking. Of course, it adds richness and delicious flavour to your baked goods. Beyond that, butter is also essential to the texture of a baked good. Working with room-temperature butter in a batter helps create a light, fluffy texture (like in cakes and cupcakes) as the butter melts and creates steamy air pockets during the baking process. Using melted butter in a recipe will result in a more moist crumb, which is why it’s used in denser recipes, like cookies. In croissants and other puff pastries, the layers of butter steam the pastry, making that light and fluffy layered texture we all love.
Does quality butter make a difference in baking?
High-quality butter has higher milk fat content, which gives you richer, flakier and more flavourful baked goods that tend to have better shape and structure. A lower-quality butter has more water content, which will produce, for example, a crisper, flatter cookie with more crunch. Using a higher quality butter will make for softer, chewier cookies with a taller shape.
When to use high-quality butter: For more flavourful and structured desserts.
The Perfect Type of Butter for Every Baked Good
Should you use salted or unsalted butter for baking?
Butter is naturally unsalted. Salt is added for flavour and preservative qualities. Most baking recipes tend to call for unsalted butter. This is because there is no standard salt content in butter, so it varies from brand to brand and country to country. In order to have more control over the amount of salt in a recipe (since baking is a delicate science!), unsalted butter is preferred and then the exact amount of salt is dictated by the recipe itself. This helps create more consistent results for home bakers replicating a recipe. In general, salted butter is preferred for cooking (or simply spreading) as it adds more flavour and has a longer shelf life, while unsalted butter is the go-to for baking.
When to use unsalted butter: For all baking recipes
Is European butter better for baking?
Have you ever wondered why baked goods just taste better in Europe? European butter is churned to have a higher milk fat content of at least 82%, while North American butter typically has around 80% milk fat. Gay Lea’s Bakers Gold surpasses even European standards with 84% milk fat, making this unsalted, culinary-grade option the ideal choice for the finest baked goods.
When to use European-grade butter: Baked goods that benefit from high cream fat content or where butter is a prominent flavour, like laminated doughs, puff pastries and croissants.
Is cultured butter good for baking?
Cultured butter, a more tangy and savoury variety of butter, is made by treating the cream with cultures (AKA pasteurized cream), allowing it to ferment, and then churning the butter. The process is not dissimilar to making wine, where the longer it ferments, the fuller the flavour. Savoury baked recipes can benefit from the tangier flavour of this butter that’s popular to Europe.
When to use cultured butter: Pancakes, biscuits and pound cakes.
Is sweet cream butter good for baking?
Sweet cream butter (AKA regular butter) is pasteurized from fresh cream. It’s the most typical butter found in North American grocery stores. It’s not necessarily sweet; its referred to that way in contrast to the tangier cultured butter that is popular in Europe. Nearly any baked good can be made with this variety of butter, including both sweet and savoury bakes.
When to use sweet cream butter: Cookies, brownies and squares, cakes and cupcakes.
Is grass-fed butter better for baking?
Regular butter is typically made from dairy sourced from cows fed a diet of grains, while grass-fed butter, as the name implies, is made from dairy from pasture-grazing cows. Grass-fed butter is typically more yellow in colour, flavourful, and can have additional health benefits (like a higher amount of Omega-3s). Try Gay Lea’s Grass-Fed Unsalted Butter to experience the rich, silky taste of this type of butter.
When to use grass-fed butter: Any recipe where you’d like to highlight a strong butter flavour like pie crusts, flavoured spreads and buttercream icing.
Watch The Big Bake on Food Network Canada. Also Available on theGlobal TV AppandSTACKTVwith Amazon Prime Video Channels, fuboTV, Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream.
FAQs
The short answer is when baking, unsalted is the best choice and yes, it does make a difference to your recipes which you choose. There are some home bakers who will stand by using salted butter for everything and that is their personal preference.
What is the best type of butter for baking? ›
For baking purposes, the Test Kitchen recommends using unsalted butter so you can better control the amount of salt that goes into the recipe. Salted butter is best for serving at the table with bread or to flavor a dish, like mashed potatoes.
Does it matter what kind of butter you use? ›
Both salted butter and unsalted butter can be used interchangeably in any recipe, but if the recipe calls specifically for unsalted butter, it's probably because the recipe has been tested with it and is preferred for that particular recipe.
Which butter should not be used for baking? ›
Baking recipes typically call for unsalted butter because the amount of salt in salted butter varies depending on the brand – there is no “industry standard.” For example, if you use one brand of salted butter in a recipe, and we use another, our baked goods could end up tasting very different from one other.
What butter is best for everyday use? ›
- Editor's Choice. Finlandia Unsalted. This creamy, rich butter—both the unsalted and salted versions—is premium in every way, from aroma to flavor. ...
- Runner-Up. Isigny Ste Mère Unsalted. ...
- Budget Pick. Breakstone's Unsalted. ...
- Best for Baking. Land O'Lakes Unsalted. ...
- Best Salted. Kerrygold Salted. ...
- Best Cultured. Vermont Creamery Unsalted.
The best butter for your baked goods depends on what type of recipe you're whipping up. Unsalted, American-style butter works well in goods like cookies, pound cakes and pancakes that require the high-fat content of conventional butter and more flexibility with salt and flavor content.
What is the healthiest butter for baking? ›
Nutritionally, grass-fed butter contains less saturated fats, more PUFAs, and more of the heart-healthy omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) fatty acids than regular butter.
What butter to avoid? ›
Margarine is the worst of all butters and spreads, as it is highly processed and loaded with pro-inflammatory Omega-6 fats and trans fats, which is considered the worst type of fat you can eat.” Gioffre says, “Trans fats raise your 'bad' cholesterol but also lowers your 'good' cholesterol, ultimately stressing your ...
What butter do chefs use? ›
European-style butter
European butters have a higher butterfat percentage than American butters, and have become the butters of choice for many chefs, bakers, and passionate home cooks.
Is country churned butter good for baking? ›
PC® Country Churned Unsalted Butter is prepared using an old-fashioned churning method and fresh cream. Ideal for cooking and baking.
WHAT ARE BUTTER ALTERNATIVES FOR BAKING?
- MARGARINE. Margarine is a fat that is made mostly from vegetable oil that's flavored to taste like butter. ...
- SHORTENING. Shortening is 100% fat, made from hydrogenated vegetable oils. ...
- OLIVE OIL & VEGETABLE OIL. ...
- COCONUT OIL. ...
- PUMPKIN PURÉE. ...
- APPLESAUCE. ...
- GREEK YOGURT. ...
- BANANAS.
spreads, Spray, and Baking Sticks may remind you of butter, but it's in fact not butter. Whereas dairy butter is made almost exclusively from cream, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! uses a blend of plant-based oils, water and other simple ingredients to deliver a deliciously buttery taste.
Is real butter better for baking? ›
But when you're baking, butter triumphs over margarine every time. For cakes, cookies, and pastries, butter (unsalted, that is) provides richer flavor. (It begins as cream, after all, and margarine is made from vegetable oil.) Butter's high fat content is also what gives baked goods their texture.
What is the best butter to bake with? ›
In general, salted butter is preferred for cooking (or simply spreading) as it adds more flavour and has a longer shelf life, while unsalted butter is the go-to for baking.
What brand of butter is real butter? ›
Challenge Butter has been a quality staple in kitchens since 1911. It's churned daily from two natural ingredients: the freshest 100% real pasteurized sweet cream and salt. That's it. Nothing artificial or synthetic.
Is Land O' Lakes real butter or margarine? ›
Stick margarine made with 80% vegetable oil, i.e. Land O Lakes® Margarine, can be substituted for butter in most baking applications, except pastry recipes and candy made from boiled syrup. Margarine will produce a softer dough than one made with butter, and it will not have the same flavor as recipe made with butter.
What grade of butter is best for baking? ›
That means it's 18% water, at least 80% butterfat, and 1% to 2% milk solids. Why grade AA? It's the most buttery in flavor of all three grades: AA, A, and B. It has a light, fresh flavor and smooth texture — a perfect butter for baking and using at the table.
What butter do professional chefs use? ›
European butters have a higher butterfat percentage than American butters, and have become the butters of choice for many chefs, bakers, and passionate home cooks.
Is Grade AA butter the best? ›
The USDA U.S. Grade AA shield represents that the product has been evaluated by a skilled, licensed grader based on the U.S. Grade Standard for Butter to determine that the flavor, body, and texture meets the highest quality standard for butter.”
