FOOD NEWS
13 Tips You Should Follow When Baking With Butter
BY LEI SHISHAK
Stock Up
Quality baking butter can be pricey, so consider stocking up while it’s on sale. Preserve it longer by wrapping it in foil, then in an airtight container, and freeze it.
Frozen butter lasts for 18 months and can be defrosted by sitting in the fridge overnight. Any discoloration, bad odor, or fuzzy mold on your butter is a sign it should be tossed.
Store Butter Properly
To reduce the chance of spoilage, store your butter in an airtight container, Ziploc bag, or water-sealed butter dish in the fridge.
For long-lasting butter, store it in the back of the fridge, which is the coldest part. Butter will last for one to two months in the fridge before it loses its sweet, rich taste.
Salted Vs. Unsalted
Salted butter is ideal for cooking while unsalted butter is almost always used for baking. Since salt is a preservative, unsalted butter is typically fresher.
Unsalted butter controls the flavor of baked goods, but if only salted butter is available, don’t fret. Simply reduce the salt by ¼ teaspoon for every ½ cup of salted butter used.
Use Cold Butter
Flaky pastry recipes call for cold, cubed butter, which is essential for achieving a tender, flaky texture in delicacies like biscuits, pie crusts, and croissants.
To ensure your butter is sufficiently cold, use a knife to cut the butter, then place the cubes in the freezer for 10 minutes for an extra boost of chill.
Use A Food Processor
Use a food processor to cut cold butter into flour for your pastry dough. This way, the fat disperses quickly and evenly into the flour.
Minimize heat exposure to the dough and avoid over-handling it by using the food processor’s pulse button. Once crumbly, slowly add ice water and pulse until the dough forms.