Butter: salted vs. unsalted
Posted by Gina on Jul 20, 2009
Why is it necessary to use unsalted butter in some baking recipes? I am baking scones and have no unsalted butter. Will they be “not so good” with “regular” butter? Thank you very much! -Shelley
Your scones will be just as good, if not better, when using salted butter! I personally always bake with salted butter. I like to butter my bread with salted butter, so I buy just the one kind. Salt enhances the flavor of baked goods. The recipes that call for unsalted butter are following the rules by keeping sweet things sweet, but you may have noticed that most baking recipes almost always call for a teaspoon or so of salt. If salt were not used, the flavor would be unbalanced and a tad too sweet. You may want to eliminate (or cut in half) the teaspoon of salt called for in the recipe if you are using salted butter. But to be honest, most of the time when I bake I add the salt and use salted butter and I get good results.
natural food coloring
Posted by Gina on Jun 10, 2009
I am diabetic and have a passion for baking low sugar cakes and pastries. Prefer to have some color to them. Find it impossible to locate any certified organic food colors. Yes, I have used concentrated juices from pomegranate, blackberries, blueberries but the hues do not have the intensity I seek. Even caramel flavoring and color is artificially created from a corn base with or without ammonia and sulfites or synthetically made from acetone. Any suggestions? Thank you. - Louise
I did some research and found this website and then this one. Both sites offer all natural vegetable food colorings. The ingredients are listed and they seem like the real deal. They don’t feature the standard “artificial color” and use beets, carrots and other plants to create the colors. It is not clear if they are completely organic, but I think they are definite improvements on all the artificial colorings available. Both sites clearly state that the coloring may impart some flavor to your end product and that applying heat to these colors could change the hue. I think they could best be used in icings and glazes to create vibrantly colored cakes and pastries.
I have never worked with this kind of product before, but the reviews some folks have written on these sites seem like a helpful guide in getting started. I am curious to hear how they work for you and would like to try them myself.