The simple way to spread cold butter on a slice of bread/voila system!
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In the Baking Hows, Whys, and WTFs section of bonappetit food magazine, food editor and experienced baker Shilpa Oskokovic answers the most burning questions in the world of baking and reveals tips and tricks for perfect pastries, including some you never thought of - such as: How can you soften butter, quickly?
Most of the time, Oskokovich admits, she doesn't plan well in advance the items she needs to bake.
In many situations, she starts preparing a recipe that requires ingredients at room temperature.
Eggs at room temperature?
There's no way she has lukewarm milk?
no no no.
soft butter?
Oh, oops.
Eggs are forgiving but butter really isn't.
While cold or frozen butter is good for certain recipes such as dough for the base of a pie, soft or room temperature butter is very important for making cakes and cookies.
It helps trap air bubbles in it more effectively than cold butter during mixing, and these air bubbles help to aerate the final product, giving the dough softness and puffiness.
Soft butter also combines more easily with the dough or batter.
On the other hand, butter that is too cold will fly in all directions while stirring in the bowl and the pastries will come out too compressed.
So what does she do?
Here are her three sure-fire methods for softening butter quickly.
Just choose one that suits your personality.
The first tip
The quietest and most practical approach is to cut the hard butter into small cubes (about half a centimeter or the size of almonds) and arrange it in one layer on a plate or directly on the butter wrapper.
Due to the additional surface area, the small pieces will soften more quickly, in only about 15 minutes (depending of course on the room temperature).
She adds that if this is your preferred way of churning butter, it is likely that you are big brothers and you always submit your income tax forms on time.
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The second tip
This tip, which she called "the most disruptive but also the most fun," involves aggressively hitting the cold block of butter with a rolling pin (or with the bottom of a small pan if you have no choice).
The goal is to spread the butter into a thin sheet (about a quarter of a centimeter thick) until it is flexible.
It usually takes less than 5 minutes.
She says she hits the block of butter while it's still in its wrapper and then gently peels off the torn paper.
You may want to take unwrapped butter and place it between two squares of baking paper or parchment paper for a neater approach.
She recommends this method if your day has included too many Zoom meetings that could have been email.
The third tip
Her last tip is what they tell you never to do - you're not supposed to put butter in the microwave, but she doesn't care.
According to her, quite a few modern microwaves have a program called softening butter, this is true.
Just look for a sticker detailing the different functions and times stuck somewhere on the microwave door or hiding in the instruction manual.
If there is none, the instructions she follows are - microwave 1 package of butter, unwrapped and on a plate, on low power for 30 - 45 seconds.
It produces the perfect result for baked goods, and if you have an unreliable microwave and end up melting with a puddle of melted butter there are plenty of cookie recipes that can be made with liquid butter.
P.S.
What is butter at room temperature?
The acceptable range of room temperature is between 20 and 22 degrees.
Butter at room temperature should be around 19 degrees and leave an indentation with your finger when you press into it (instead of sinking straight through).
Once your butter is at the right temperature, you are ready to make almost anything.
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