I went totally butter-crazy while testing my way through the reader-submitted recipes from the "My Mother Makes The Best…" dessert contest published in the new May '13 issue of the magazine.
We obsess over nuance in the Good Housekeeping test kitchen—a pinch of this or a dash of that can completely transform a dish!
I kept wondering: Will this dish win or fail depending on which butter I choose to test it with? Does salted vs. For accuracy's sake, we retested all recipes that did not specify butter-type with both salted and unsalted butter but my larger question still wasn't resolved. So I organized a side-by-side taste test to give us a little more clarity…. They're very straight forward recipes that don't call for many ingredients—meaning the butter stands out! For the cake recipe, I tested it as written with both unsalted and salted butter, and once more omitting the 1 teaspoon salt since bakers often suggest omitting the added salt when substituting salted for unsalted butter in a recipe.
For the frosting, I tested it as written with both unsalted and salted butter. It did not call for any added salt. OMG I just used salted butter for some cookies and they turned out super salty!
I bake bread quite regularly, and I always use unsalted butter. The one time I did have to use salted, the bread came out tasting too salty. My mom owns a bakery, and she uses salted butter for everything. Her bakery is the most popular bakery and breakfast place in town. Everyone loves her stuff. In my opinion, her stuff is better than the rest because of that salted butter. Then again… I put sea salt on my dark chocolate candy bars.
Cooks better smarten up regarding salt and butter. Salt is a healthy preservative and makes foods digestible—in some cases even life-saving! Peanuts will not digest without salt! Salt is what preserved foods for thousands of years, people lived long ages. Butter is not a synthetic like soy— hogs will not eat soymash! Who is the smart one now?
I live in Canada and our salted butter varies by brand can be quite salty. Well said every one, I only have slightly salted butter in the house and I need to bake a chocolate cake for my two girls. I shall feedback on the cake once it is done. It gets wet-bready and rises especially around the edges; the one time I made it with unsalted butter it fell flat.
Nothing else was different. Love the post. Of course, I always tell people to use unsalted, but its just a tastebud preference. I am making potato soup and the recipe calls for salted butter but all I have is margarine.
Can I use my margarine instead of the salted butter? You may not notice the discrepancy on your morning toast, but it will definitely alter the outcome of a cookie , cake, or especially, flaky pastry.
The bottom line is to heed the recipe's recommendations and stick to the butter that's listed. Trust that the recipe developers have done the testing-and the tasting-for you, and that the specific type of butter and amount of salt are included for very good reasons. Finally, it's worth nothing that there are instances when baking recipes are developed specifically with salted butter in mind. A few of my favorites are brown butter shortbread , developed using Kerrygold's salted butter and the classic ring-shaped Danish butter cookies.
Both recipes rely on just a few ingredients, and are ultimately designed to let the distinctive taste of salted butter shine. By Ellen Morrissey May 17, Save Pin More.
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