All About Butter
The Different Types of Butter
Since butter is responsible for so many things — including not only tenderness and flakiness but also taste, leavening, and structure — it is important to know the difference between all those butters at the grocery story before picking up a few sticks and heading off to make a batch of cookies.
At the store, you will typically find sweet cream butter and unsalted butter. Both butters are made in the same way with the same cream, but sweet cream butter usually has salt added. Contrary to the name, sweet cream butter has not been sweetened. In general, sweet cream butter is better for spreading on toast, while unsalted butter is better for baking. This is so we can control the exact amount of salt we are adding to our recipes.
You may also see cultured butter at the store. The main difference here is that this butter is made from cream that has been cultured and allowed to slightly sour. It is the type of butter most traditionally found and used in Europe. “European-style” butter sold in North America, like Plugra, is cultured or sweet cream butter with cultured cream flavor added in.
Why We Use Unsalted Butter, but Still Add Salt
If you are going to be doing a lot of baking, it is best to keep unsalted butter on hand. But then way do so many recipes call for additional salt? The main reason: control.
Since different butter manufactures add different amounts of salt to butter, using unsalted butter takes the guessing out of the equation. You get to control the overall salt content. Most recipes take this into consideration when being developed and call for unsalted butter in the ingredients, and this advice is worth heeding.
In addition, the salt in salted butter can end up making delicate, sweet pastries taste overly salty. Think about a buttercream, where butter is a major component and is responsible for much of the flavor — salty buttercream would probably taste very unpleasant piled high on a cupcake.
Butterfat and Moisture Content in Butter
Butter is made by churning cream until it separates into liquids (buttermilk) and solids (butterfat). In North America, commercially sold butter must contain at least 80 percent butterfat, while European butters typically contain at least 82 percent and up to about 85 percent. The remaining contents of the butter’s makeup includes water and milk solids. The lower the butterfat content, the more liquid (and less fat) is being added to your recipe; the higher the butterfat content, the more fat (and less liquid).
So, what does this all mean when it comes to baking? If having less butterfat essentially means more liquid, then consider what adding a bit more liquid will do to your doughs and batters. This small increase might not be as noticeable in simple brownies or quick breads, but the additional liquid can weigh down doughs and leave pastries a bit too tough. Butter with more butterfat will also remain solid slightly longer in the oven. Want crisper, flakier croissants and puff pastry? Go for the butter with the higher butterfat content.
Also, it is worth noting the different between the moisture and moistness butter adds to a recipes. Moisture refers to the liquid content while moistness refers to the fat. Nearly all recipes call for both, but for different reasons. In general, fat (including that in butter) tenderizes baked goods. Liquids (again, including that in butter) help hydrate proteins (found in flours and starches), bind ingredients together, and also aid in moistening.
Butter in Recipes
Moisture and flavor might be the most obvious reasons to use butter in baked goods, but there are several other roles butter is playing as well. In things like cakes, cookies, and muffins, butter coats the proteins and starches during the mixing step and results in a more delicate crumb.
In many of these types of pastries, the butter is creamed with the sugar before being mixed with other ingredients. Through this process, the sugar granules actually cut into the softened butter and air is forced into the mixture, which ultimately helps to leaven the pastry.
Even in recipes that do not call for the creaming method, butter assists in leavening by creating steam when placed in a hot oven. Recall what makes up butter other than butterfat? The liquid portion of butter adds moisture (as opposed to the moistness added from the fat), and in baked goods like puff pastry and croissants, the liquid in the butter begins to evaporate and create steam, which lifts the pastry as it bakes.
Why Butter Temperature Matters
Temperature is a key factor in how butter behaves within a recipe and how it mixes with other ingredients in a batter or dough. Rarely does a recipe list butter without noting if it should be cold from the fridge, softened to room temperature, or even melted. With softened butter, the fat can be easily creamed together with sugar, or used to coat flour particles. This creates a more even distribution of fat throughout the dough or batter, yielding a tender final product. Like using room-temperature eggs, room-temperature butter creates a more homogenous batter and prevents buttercream from “breaking” (more on this in the next lesson).
Softened butter should still be cool, but malleable. It should be able to hold its shape and still firm enough that if you press your finger into it, the impression is clean. It should not be squishy, oily, or appear melted. Too warm or melted butter loses its ability to cream and hold air when beaten.
Is vegan butter good for baking? In recipes where they're the only vegan substitute, both vegan butters will produce baked goods with texture similar to that of dairy butter, with flavor being the main difference. When substituting additional vegan ingredients (mainly eggs), the recipe may not turn out the same, texture-wise, as originally intended.
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What’s the best substitute? If the recipe calls for 1 cup butter, use ¾ cup vegetable oil. The function of using butters and oils in baking is to keep the dessert moist, which is essential in any recipe, so vegetable oil is a great substitute for butter in most vegan recipes. You can also use applesauce, dairy-free yogurt, coconut oil, coconut butter, olive oil, nut butter, mashed banana and mashed avocado.
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Is ghee vegan butter? No, commercial ghee is not dairy-free and is definitely not vegan. But there’s vegan options out there.
