When you cook, unlike when you bake, you can taste as you go – and in fact many savory recipes instruct you to “add salt to taste.” Thus if a recipe calls for unsalted butter, but you add salted instead, you will be able to taste the dish's saltiness and then add as little, or as much, extra salt as you would like.
Substitutes for Unsalted Butter
For 1 cup unsalted butter, substitute 1 cup shortening, ⅞ cup (that's 14 Tbsp. or ¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp.) vegetable oil, or ⅞ cup lard.
Is Salted Butter Better Than Unsalted? Now, if you're wondering if one butter is better than the other, the answer is no. Both salted and unsalted versions are useful in cooking and baking. They are both equally delicious and make for rich, delectable recipes.
One question I get asked all the time is whether it is acceptable to use salted butter in baking, since most recipes either don't specify salted or unsalted, or explicitly recommended unsalted butter. The simple answer is that yes, it is fine to use salted butter in baking.
Flavor: Made up of butterfat, unsalted butter does not contain any extra salt. If you're eating unsalted butter, you will taste the natural flavor of butter—less salty, sweeter, and smoother than its salted counterpart.
You can use salted butter instead of unsalted butter if that's all you've got — especially if you're making something simple like cookies where the chemistry of adding salt in a specific amount and at a certain time won't have a meaningful impact on the outcome (as it would with yeasted bread).
The National Dairy Council (NDC) states that “generally, salted butter contains 1.6–1.7 percent” salt. This equates to a little over 7 grams, which is a tiny bit over 1 teaspoon.
Using salted butter is ideal for all types of cooking and is a great way to add extra flavour, with no need to add extra salt. However, using salted butter in baking is not always so straight forward. Salted butter can make your baked goods too salty, clouding the flavour and delicate sweetness of your recipe.
You can use salted or unsalted butter and opinions are divided on which is best. Many recipes for this icing suggest unsalted. However a little salt brings out the flavour so they then often add salt.
Unsalted butter provides an even, predictable base level on which to build your flavors; it's consistent every time. In this way, you don't have to worry that your baked goods will be too salty or that the balance of saltiness and sweetness will be altered. Unsalted butter also tends to be fresher than salted butter.
Substituting Salted for Unsalted Butter
This substitution is extremely simple: Replace the unsalted butter called for in your recipe with an equal amount of salted butter. Then, adjust the amount of salt in the recipe to account for the extra salt in the butter.
For baking purposes, the Test Kitchen recommends using unsalted butter so you can better control the amount of salt that goes into the recipe. Salted butter is best for serving at the table with bread or to flavor a dish, like mashed potatoes.
Unsweetened Applesauce
Use it in cakes, cupcakes, muffins and quick breads. How to use it: Applesauce can replace butter in a 1-to-1 ratio, but it might benefit from an additional fat like olive oil or yogurt for added moisture, and the end result might be denser than it would when using butter.
But exactly how much salt is in salted butter? After comparing four major butter brands, we determined that on average there are 80 mg of sodium per 10 g serving. So for every gram of butter, there is 8 mg of sodium.
If your Buttercream has become incredibly dense, with a beautiful film of greasy texture to it, your Buttercream has curdled. This happened when the butter you were using was simply too cold.
If it's too stiff and sticks straight up, I suggest adding in more heavy cream (1 Tbsp at a time). If it's too thin and doesn't form a little peak at all, try adding a bit more powdered sugar (1/4 cup at a time). You can also chill it in the fridge for 10-minute intervals.
Even when you don't use food coloring, the frosting always has a yellow cast. That's because of this icing's namesake ingredient: butter. Butter is used in high proportions in this frosting, so its natural hue always seems to come through.
How long does it take to soften butter? Setting out chilled butter at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes prior to use gives it time to soften. The same approach works for frozen butter, though it can take a couple of hours.
So here's a simple rule of thumb to use so you can make the recipe with unsalted butter. Just remember, for every half cup (1 stick or ¼ lb) of salted butter required, you can add ¼ teaspoon of salt to Challenge Unsalted Butter. Regular butter contains some salt, and most recipes take this into account.
So, if you're using salted butter in place of unsalted, you'll want to use the same amount but subtract ¼ teaspoon of salt from the ingredients. To go from unsalted to salted, use the same amount of butter but add ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Add some water to the butter, say about an equal amount. Heat it up the butter + water until the butter melts. Mix it thoroughly. Let the mixture sit until the water and butter separate.
Properly stored butter can be frozen for up to four months if frozen prior to the USE BY date on the package. Butter may begin to lose its fresh butter taste and pick up flavors and odors from the freezer if stored for longer than four months. Once the butter is removed from the freezer, use it within 30 days.
You can brown salted butter, but all of the salt gets concentrated in the milk solids and depending on how you're using it, it can ruin the flavor. Cut up your butter into chunks and place them in your pan. Turn on the heat to medium and let the butter melt.
If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure. Therefore, as the butter spreads so does the whole liquidy cookie.