butter for baking?

Question

what type of butter do you use for baking lets say chocolate chip cookies.. salted ro non salted?

Answer 1

Always use "sweet" (RE: unsalted butter) for cooking. You want to be able to control the salt flavor in your cooking. Especially for cookies!

From Food Network's website Q&A Pages:

Butter comes two ways: salted and unsalted. Salt is added to butter for flavor and as a preservative so it will have a longer shelf life. Salt, however, can sometimes overpower the sweet flavor of the butter and can also mask odors. Additionally, the amount of salt added to salted butter varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, so it's hard to know how much extra salt you're adding to a recipe. Using unsalted butter allows the chef to control the amount of salt in a recipe.

If you have no choice but to use salted butter in a recipe, the rule of thumb is to omit about 1/4 teaspoon salt per 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter.

Unsalted butter has a short shelf life because it contains no preservatives. If you buy unsalted butter and do not use it right away, it is best to freeze it. If properly wrapped so it won't pick up any odors, butter can be frozen for around six months. Just remember to defrost the butter overnight in the refrigerator before using it.

-Food Network Kitchens

Answer 2

Using salted butter creates a different flavor- not only a bit saltier, but some other changes as well. To experience the truest version of a recipe, you generally cook and bake with 'sweet' or unsalted butter.

Now- with cookies, substituting shortening for butter (and changing a few other things) will make the cookies chewier since the butter melts earlier and lets the cookies spread out more while the shortening holds together longer.

For a really good discussion of this, especially with Chocolate Chip Cookies, see the 'Three Cookies for Sister Sarah (or whatever her name is)' episode of Alton Brown's show "Good Eats" on the Food Network.

Answer 3

most bakers insist on unsalted but I havent seen any real difference in the taste or quality of the baked goods.
1 theory goes that any recipe that contains salt already will become too salty if you use salted butter. and the 2nd theory is that because the salt is a presevative the salted butter can last longer on the shelf its more likely to be less fresh than un salted and perhaps butter makers will use a lower quality cream or older cream to make the butter because the salt covers up the flavor but like i said before I havent noticed,and if youve ever ran into rancid butter believe me youll notice.(and it was unsalted butter by the way!)but then maybe someone with more delicate tastebuds might.so I guess it comes down to personal preference.
for me and my house we use salted!
peace><>

Answer 4

Always use unsalted when baking because you can control the amount of salt in the recipe, 1. so your cookies dont become too salty and 2. because salt isnt very good for you. so I would suggest using unsalted butter all the time.

Answer 5

Always use non salted butter for baking unless the recipe specifically says salted.

Answer 6

My widespread is to bake the potatoe till a pair of million/2 accomplished, get rid of from oven, shrink in a million/2, scoop out the potatoe right into a extensive bowl, mixture with butter (or oleo) and chopped onion, place lower back into potatoe pores and skin and proceed baking. whilst potatoe is thoroughly baked, upload a slice of cheese, leave in oven yet another 5 minutes, then eat! Yummy!

Answer 7

All the big time bakers on TV say unsalted. I always use salted and have never tried unsalted--though about it, but stuff takes pretty good with the salted.

Answer 8

To tell you the truth, I have used both at one time or another. The cookies ALWAYS taste the same no matter what butter I use. I guess I my "palet" is not as sophisticated as the people on food network. Oh well, they still taste like cookies.

Answer 9

Either is fine, salted has more flavor, but the professionals always use Non-Salted Butter...a personal choice for sure.

Answer 10

They say we suppose to use unsalted , but I always bake with salted never had any problems at all.