Salted or Unsalted Butter: Which to Bake With?
And what’s even the difference?
Have you ever been in the middle of baking when you notice the recipe calls for unsalted butter?
Panic ensues as you try to remember if you have salted or unsalted butter in your fridge.
Which makes you wonder, is there even a difference between the two and would a simple substitution really be that detrimental to the recipe?
First, what’s the difference?
As the name implies, salted butter has a small amount of salt added. For most brands, this is about 90 milligrams of salt per tablespoon butter. In comparison, unsalted butter is simply a mixture of cream, water, and milk solids (mostly proteins, lactose, vitamins, and minerals).
The addition of salt not only affects taste, but also acts as a preservative to keep the butter from spoiling. For exactly this reason, salted butter can have a shelf life of several months.
Here’s when unsalted butter works best
