Re: Unsalted Butter

My guess, and only a guess, is that many people prefer to limit their salt intake. Also, in a recipe calling for unsalted butter, the exact quantity of salt in the recipe can be controlled. Salt is a preservative too, so maybe there's a thought that unsalted butter would be "fresher".

Connie

The taste of the finished product is different. Unsalted butter has a fresher taste, redolent of fresh cream, which salt suppresses.

There are some things you cannot use with salted butter at all, since there is no salt called for in the recipe. One example is Viennese Vanilla Crescents. An American friend made them for her Viennese husband, but substituted salted butter for the unsalted listed for the recipe. She had to throw out the cookies, that's how terribly they tasted, compared to the ones she had meant to make and which she had tasted from other friends.

Also, if a recipe calls for baking powder or baking soda plus salt, the salted butter is not a good substitute. I do not know why, but perhaps the salt has been treated somehow to be used in the butter.

In Europe, in the 1930's, we only used unsalted butter and some people added salt when the butter got a little stale with an off taste.

Salt is used to extend shelf life and to cover up defects in taste. Fresh, good-quality unsalted butter will taste considerably better than salted, and you can quickly and easily when it's no longer optimal. Further, using salted butter adds an inexact and indeterminable quantity of salt to your recipe.

Indeed Unsalted butter is definetely the best choice in baking application.This is more apparent in the preparation of layered pastries. Making croissants and danish pastries with salted butter is difficult as the salt will make the butter melt faster .Therefore it almost impossible to attain the desiredl flaky structure from these pastries if made with salty butter.You will end up usually with an inferior product in this area.

If you use an recipe that demands a lot of butter the salted variety will usually destroy the taste.It is better to add the salt yourself than balancing the saltiness buy increasing or reducing the butter. One example is the old fashioned pound cake(pound for pound of each ingredient).Majority would prefer the taste of the cake made with an unsalted butter aand the salt is added in the recipe.

Geneally baking powder does not contain salt as its primary component are the leavening acid( acid sodium pyrophosphate),the baking soda and the filler. If you means this as like self rising flour where it can contains both baking powder and salt,indeed it will taste odd if you are using salted butter instead of unsalted one specially if the level of used butter is high.

I prefer that salted butter should be kept out from the kitchen( cookery application )but should be limited to the dining table where it is belongs. Roy

Martha

I really doubt this is a reason. If you notice, salt is nearly always an ingredient in any baked good even when unsalted butter is called for. I believe that we now know that salt intake need only be restricted for people who have specific salt induced medical problem. Salt doesn't contribute to high blood pressure in most people and those with hypertension don't necessarily benefit from eliminating salt from their diets.

A couple reasons: First, it allows you to control the salt content of the recipe, particularly those recipes that call for more than a couple tablespoons of butter. You would be amazed at how much difference it can make in the final outcome of what you're baking. Not just in the chemical reactions of things like leavening or yeast...but in the flavor. Second, unsalted butter is fresher. This affects flavor as well. The salt in salted butter is a preservative...just compare dates on unsalted and salted to see the difference.

kimberly

Hi Margaret,

Do you have a favorite Viennese Crescent recipe? I've been searching for a really good one and haven't quite found the right one yet.

Thanks.

Vanilla Kipferln - Vanilla Crescents

l cup blanched and finely ground almonds

l stick unsalted butter

Vanilla sugar for flavoring

Cream butter with sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the ground almonds, then slowly mix in the flour. Knead the dough until everything is well combined and smooth. If the dough is too soft, you may need a little more flour.

Take walnut sized pieces of dough, roll them between the palms of your hands and form into small rolls. Bend rolls into crescent shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet. If the dough crumbles, add a small amount of raw egg yolk.

Bake in cool, 325 degree oven and watch carefully. The cookies are not suppose to brown and are done when firm to the touch, but still almost white.

Dip each crescent into vanilla sugar while still hot. You can make your own vanilla sugar by putting either granulated or confectioner's sugar into an airtight jar and adding a vanilla bean which has been broken into small pieces. You can also buy vanilla sugar from Penzey's or find it in specialty shops made by Dr. Oetker's.

Don't tell anybody, but if you are out of vanilla sugar, just add a drop of fine vanilla extract to the dough while you are mixing it and then dip the hot cookies into plain sugar. I have done it and nobody noticed the difference. Just make sure it is just a drop or so, 1/4 of a teaspoon if the extract is strong and fresh. Since it makes me feel guilty when I do it, I still use vanilla sugar whenever possible.

Thanks Margaret. I'll try this one tonight.