I'm new to cookie baking and decorating and am having an awesome time. With little over 3 weeks under my belt I already have 5 cookie orders. I'm curious what are your thoughts on salted butter versus unsalted butter. I currently use unsalted butter but wondered what is the difference other than taste when using salted butter. I would appreciate any suggestions you can share and or recipes too.
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If you uses salted butter on desserts they will have a salted taste that could be distasteful. Some people omits salt in a récipe if they uses salted butter. Not all récipes in deserts, cookies, buttercreams ask for salt.
I find that unsalted butter has a fresher, brighter taste than salted butter. Plus, I can better control the amount of additional salt I add to a recipe when some isn't already in the butter - meaning I can more easily isolate the exact quantity of salt in a recipe. I do a fair bit of recipe development, so having the ability to do this is important.
thanks so much for the feedback. I read somewhere that someone used exclusively salted butter and was wondering if there was a freshness reason for it or just some other baking trick I hadn't read about yet. I actually don't use salt at all in my cookies so I guess I'll need to try another recipe soon although I really enjoy my recipe now.
Originally Posted by Julia M. Usher:
I find that unsalted butter has a fresher, brighter taste than salted butter. Plus, I can better control the amount of additional salt I add to a recipe when some isn't already in the butter - meaning I can more easily isolate the exact quantity of salt in a recipe. I do a fair bit of recipe development, so having the ability to do this is important.
Dairy companies use salt to preserve butter. So salted butter may sit on the shelf longer than unsalted, which explains why unsalted butter has a fresher taste. You also never know exactly how much salt is added. As you can probably tell by these two points, I'm a big fan of unsalted butter for baking. On my toast, I'll take salted butter any day!
I hope this helps. Much luck to you!
Dairy companies use salt to preserve butter. So salted butter may sit on the shelf longer than unsalted, which explains why unsalted butter has a fresher taste. You also never know exactly how much salt is added. As you can probably tell by these two points, I'm a big fan of unsalted butter for baking. On my toast, I'll take salted butter any day!
I hope this helps. Much luck to you!
That's exactly right, mimibu. That's why I always prefer unsalted. You know exactly what you're getting.
Salt acts as a flavor enhancer as well, so a little bit in most pastries (especially tart and pie dough) is almost always a good idea; otherwise, the products can taste flat or bland. Sugar enhances flavor too, so you already have that going for you in sweets recipes.
