Butter has many functions in baking, which can increase the flavor of baked food, moisten its texture and bond various ingredients. Although butter is a widely used raw material, it can also be replaced by some dairy products and non-dairy products, and some raw materials are even more effective than butter. Most butter substitutes can be used well for bread, muffins, cakes, biscuits and some cakes. Let's take a look at what ingredients can replace butter in baking.
shorten
In baking, solid vegetable shortening can replace butter in the formula in a ratio of one to one. Using shortening, it is likely that the baked food is not as rich as that baked with butter, and the final product is denser because the melting point of shortening is higher than that of butter. Try not to choose which vegetable shortening has flavor, or add other seasonings to the formula, which will destroy the original flavor of food.
coconut oil
Coconut oil is a fatty substance from coconut, which can replace butter in baking formula in a ratio of one to one. Especially for vegetarians, coconut oil is a good choice Solid coconut oil is similar to vegetable shortening, and both are refined varieties. Foods baked with coconut oil will have this faint coconut fragrance, and coconut oil also contains nutrients in coconut.
margarine
Margarine is a butter substitute made of vegetable oil. Generally, it is dyed light yellow, and then butter spices are added to create the fragrance of butter, which looks like butter. In the baking formula, the amount of margarine can replace butter in a ratio of one to one. If you want to achieve the effect of butter baking, you should choose some margarine with high fat content. Low-fat margarine contains a lot of water, which may lead to rough taste of baked goods.
edible oil
Edible oil such as vegetable oil, rapeseed oil or rice bran oil can also be used to replace butter, but if it is replaced by a ratio of one to one, the baked food will become very greasy. Therefore, a cup of butter is usually replaced by three-quarters to seven-eighths cups of vegetable oil. Or you can add it bit by bit until the batter or dough reaches the desired effect. Vegetable oil is generally tasteless, so the baked goods are not as fragrant as butter. For example, biscuits made of vegetable oil will become chewy, while biscuits made of butter are crispy outside and tender inside. In the baking recipe, if you want to use vegetable oil instead of butter, you'd better increase the amount of cream in the recipe and beat the meringue more fluffy. Otherwise, the baked product is likely to be flat and dense.
Fruit curd
Jam contains some necessary moisture and fat, so it can also replace butter to make very delicious products. Because water jam contains natural sugar, it is best to reduce the sugar in the formula. According to the baking formula, choose the water jam with matching taste. Generally speaking, a cup of butter needs to be replaced with half a cup of jam and 1-4 tablespoons of shortening. The amount of shortening depends on the humidity of the baked product. Some commonly used fruits include banana jam, apricot jam, plum jam, apple jam, peach jam and pumpkin jam.