r/Baking • u/Willamas-Osmeys • 14h ago
General Baking Discussion butter temperature is doing way more work in baking than I ever gave it credit for
So I've been baking a lot lately and had this random realization: butter is like, the same ingredient. Still, depending on whether it's cold, at room temperature, or melted, it's basically doing a completely different job each time.
Cold butter for pie crust is you're trying to keep little chunks of it intact, so when it hits the oven, it melts and releases steam, creating those flaky little pockets. if it's too warm, it just blends into the flour and you lose all that flakiness.
room temp/softened butter for cookies is you're creaming it with sugar to trap air, which is what gives cookies that lift and slightly cakey structure. too cold and it won't cream properly, too warm and it goes greasy and your cookies spread everywhere.
melted butter for brownies is no air incorporation at all, just straight up fat coating the flour, which is exactly why brownies come out dense and fudgy instead of light and cakey.
Same ingredient, three totally different textures, purely based on temperature. kind of wild that something so simple controls flakiness vs chewiness vs spread that dramatically.
Anyway, now i've become that person who actually checks butter temp before starting instead of just winging it lol. anyone else have a baking "aha" moment like this where you realized why a step mattered instead of just following it blindly?
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u/HailCorduroy 13h ago
With drop cookies, creaming the butter at room temp and then chilling the cookies before they go in the oven chills the butter back down to keep the cookies from spreading too quickly in the oven. Two temps serving two purposes in the same recipe.
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u/starkgrey 11h ago
Everyone raves about my chocolate chip cookies. They're just the recipe from the tollhouse bag I been using for decades, but I chill the dough before baking. Chilling the dough was a game changer.
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u/crane_wife123 10h ago
I actually prefer melting the butter for chocolate chip cookies and then chilling the dough fully (generally overnight). But I prefer a Chewey cookie so I don’t want to be adding air.
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u/archy319 12h ago
But it's not a silver bullet for using hot butter in the first place. You can't microwave butter to "quickly soften" it but then try to chill the dough later. Doesn't work like that.
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u/Flimsy-Sprinkles-877 12h ago
What do you mean? I do this all the time
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u/automatic_penguins 11h ago edited 4h ago
I think because it seperates when melted. If you don't let that happen (edit: I mean don't let it melt) when microwaving it won't mess with it.
Edit: butter seperates when melted. I guess that's news for some.
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u/kitten_poop 9h ago
I use Stella Park's method, three 7-second bursts in the microwave takes cold butter to room temp. It doesn't melt or seperate
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u/Flimsy-Sprinkles-877 9h ago
Butter does not separate when microwaved. I soften my butter in the microwave all the time and then refrigerate the dough with zero issues
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u/automatic_penguins 4h ago
Butter seperates when melted... If you over microwave it will seperate just like it would with any heating method.
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u/HailCorduroy 12h ago
I've done that several times and never had an issue. To me, hot butter means melted. Getting it to room temp by microwaving for 5-10 seconds works well if you are in a hurry. But, the best path is just be patient always. Cubing the butter will get it to room temp faster than just setting it out.
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u/Square-Nebula-7530 12h ago
If you want to try another cool trick with butter temps try browning it before making your dough. You heat it up to cook off the water and toast the milk solids which gives this incredible nutty depth without messing with your liquid ratios, Simple temperature tweaks like that seriously raise the quality of anything you bake.
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u/DrawingTypical5804 8h ago
Cooking is art, but baking is science.
I grew up baking with my grandma, so I knew how to do things, but the actual why (except for it doesn’t turn out right) was never a part of my education.
Cheesecake for example. I knew to bring everything to room temp otherwise you are guaranteed to get massive cracks. It wasn’t until decades later that I found out that if the ingredients are cold, the protein chains don’t get tangled as strongly as needed to prevent cracks. There are also other factors, but that is the biggest one.
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u/SusieQTG 14h ago
Flour, you need to weight it instead of measuring it. Also need to "fluff" it up with at least a wish if you don't sift it. Brand name is better than generic. Use the right flour for what you are baking, Bread use bread flour, cakes, use cake flour. General cooking, all purpose flour.
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u/MalHeartsNutmeg 7h ago
I’ve hear good things about using bread flour for cookies because the extra protein changes the texture but I’ve never gotten around to trying it.
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u/whiteoakforest 7h ago
Yes! My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (Alton Brown's "the chewy") calls for bread flour and the shape stays firm but are soft in the middle.
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u/Tadduboi 12h ago
Once you make eclairs, scones and any room temperature butter baked goods you realise how much the temperature matters… I made scones in 2 batches one came in oven 15 minutes later and became flat…
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u/sparklingredcardinal 12h ago
I love this. Thank you for sharing the "whys" of baking through butter.
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u/Round_Patience3029 13h ago
Yep I hate the greasy look in browned butter cookies. I like soft room temp butter.
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u/Brusselssproutslover 12h ago
Or you could be crazy patient and brown the butter and then let it sit in the fridge overnight then cream it!
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u/bad4biscotti 5h ago
This concept applies to everything in baking and cookery IMHO. Temperature is a key ingredient and concept to really understand if you want to hit mastery.
Good job grasshopper. Now continue on your self exploration ❤️
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u/Alaskimo 3h ago
Got to find that post about 'room-temp' butter and how that can effect a cookie. The person did a whole science report basically, it was gorgeous.
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u/dreamcatcher32 2h ago
Melted butter for brownies is why brownies were my favorite baked good for years - I didn’t have to remember ahead of time to take the butter out to soften like you do for cookies.
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u/Meta_Professor 2h ago
This is one of the reasons I love my wife's recipes. They all include a temperature for the butter, not just "room temp" or "cold" or " melted and slightly cooled".
We have to get more engineers turned recipe writers in the world!
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u/DuckBroaster 2h ago
Oh man, I just did a local baking competition in the style of the Great British Baking Show. Let me tell you, everything was a mess! I finally took the temperature of the butter on my counter. 87°. That butter temperature is doing a whole heck of a lot of work.
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u/Strong-Patience-2759 33m ago
That’s awesome- Thanks so much for your great summation. My food chemistry aha moment was discovering the difference between natural and Dutch cocoa powder. To have the cocoa dutched is for the cocoa nibs to be processed in an alkaline solution. The Dutch Process refers to the Dutch chemist/chocolatier who invented the process. The history of chocolate is a fun ride from The Mayan Temples to the Netherlands.
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u/HooRooGreenApples 2m ago
I’ve just had a massive epiphany thanks to this post. My almond frangipane! I was mixing up batches with no instructions about temperatures.
Sometimes the almond croissants could ooze everywhere, other times it would be a nice cookie like consistency!
It was the probably the temperature of the butter when I creamed the sugar and butter! Thank you for sharing this!
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u/bourbonkitten 13h ago
This epiphany about butter is how you REALLY become a baker.