Baked ingredients

There are not many basic materials for baking.

Introduced flour, eggs, yeast, thickener and sugar, but it seems that butter has never been mentioned.

Butter can be said to be a special material. Although it is animal fat, it smells like vanilla cream. A simple piece of butter smells delicious, let alone baked in a bread cake at a high temperature.

What is butter?

The main component of butter is milk fat (80%), and the remaining 15% is water and 5% is milk solid.

It solidifies into an opaque yellow solid object when it is cold, and melts into a translucent liquid when it is heated. When fat is separated from other components of butter, it will not smoke until it is heated to 200 degrees, which makes butter the most advanced cooking material.

But butter should not be overheated, otherwise it will turn black and bitter.

Analysis of butter classification nouns

Salted butter and unsalted butter

There are two differences between butter and salt.

The first is the taste. At the same time, I also remind you that butter is salty, and you may need to put less salt in the next operation.

The second is storage. This principle, like pickles and bacon, is an ancient storage method. Although adding salt can prolong the life of butter, butter without salt is fresher, sweeter and has better baking effect.

margarine

Like butter, butter is artificial. Margarine, commonly known as margarine, is also called shortening. It is made of various hydrogenated animal fats and vegetables, seasonings, emulsifiers, pigments and other ingredients. The proportion of fat, water and other solids is the same as that of natural butter, so it doesn't mean that you can not be afraid of getting fat by using margarine.

Margarine has no mandatory constraint on the composition of oil, so some margarine will be synthesized by adding vegetable oil, which also reduces the cost of butter. Some margarine even contains almost no water, so it is very suitable for spreading on table food.

Compared with natural butter, margarine is more stable, although it does not have its unique fragrance and pure oil, it will not melt when it is hot, but will harden when it is cold. And is suitable for commercial use.

Transparent butter

Clear butter is the highest edible oil, and it will smoke only when the temperature is extremely high.

Its production principle is to melt butter at low temperature, burn off the water in butter, remove the butter solids floating on the surface, and leave clean "clarified" butter without impurities.

Clarified butter is mostly used for cooking food at high temperature, such as frying fish, meat, cooking potatoes and shrimps, rather than baking.

Brown butter

Although the solid matter in butter is a stumbling block to clarify butter, it does not mean that it is useless. When heated, the solids in butter will turn brown, slightly burnt, and emit a nutlike fragrance, which is the best companion for starchy foods.

When cooking, using brown butter can make brown solid matter adhere to food and increase flavor, especially when the oil is soaked from top to bottom.

The function of butter

When it comes to butter with 80% fat, many friends are surprised, but in fact, you really don't have to be afraid of butter getting fat, just eat it in moderation.

Whether baking or cooking, oil is an essential substance, which can give food a deep taste and juice (that is, juicy ~).

Butter has many functions: softness, richness, enhanced flavor, crispness and prolonged shelf life.

In baking, we should focus on the following two functions of butter.

crisp

Any fat in baking can shorten the length of gluten and emulsify the product. This is "crisp". But compared with other oils, butter is more brittle, especially when making cakes.

The toughness of bread is due to "gluten" in flour. Most breads are fat-free, so they are hard and brittle on the outside and elastic on the inside, such as baguette and country bread. And things like cakes and pie skins are "crispy and slag-dropping", and butter is very suitable without strong gluten.

To put it bluntly: the crisper the pastry crust, the more oil is used to prove it. . .

Fluffy fermentation

When cakes become crisp and melt in the mouth, their lightness and swelling are also attributed to butter. Such as croissants, Danish pastry, puffs, etc., the oily dough is kneaded and baked at high temperature for many times, and finally the facial cortex is piled up and clearly visible. This is air kneaded dough wrapped in melted butter, which becomes fine particles and spreads during baking.

Finally, it is necessary to mention that butter can easily absorb the smell of other objects, so it must be sealed and stored in the refrigerator, otherwise what charm can seasoning butter have?