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Salted butter is back – even though for some cooks, it never went away

By Charlotte Druckman, Special to The Washington Post
Published: April 24, 2018, 6:00am
4 Photos
(Stacy Zarin Goldberg for The Washington Post)
(Stacy Zarin Goldberg for The Washington Post) Photo Gallery

It was a night I will never forget. After a round of pretzels, spaetzle and schnitzel, my friend Amanda Hesser, CEO of the website Food52, shared a disturbing discovery: For years, her mother, Judith, had baked with salted butter.

I nearly choked on my bratwurst.

People who write about food or cook professionally wouldn’t dream of using the salty kind in our sweets and, since most of us don’t bother to keep it around at all, in our savory food, either. Why not? Conventional wisdom says we should use only unsalted butter so we can control the salt, adding it separately.

Since that dinner in 2014, as I flipped through so many new cookbooks full of flaky salt-sprinkled brownies and observed fancy restaurants offer two types of butter — one with salt, one without — with their bread, I thought back to Hesser’s disclosure. It wasn’t until a few months ago, when cookbook author Alison Roman’s recipe for salted butter and chocolate chunk shortbread went viral, that I began to investigate the state, past and present, of what I once presumed the “other” butter.

Those of us who have made a big deal about salting our sweets in recent years have assumed that our predecessors liked saccharine desserts, but Hesser’s theory is that the ingredient had been excluded from old recipes because it was already incorporated into the butter.

From there, I reasoned, as unsalted or “sweet” butter became more accessible and came into fashion, people continued to rely on those old formulas, swapping out salted butter — without accounting for the salt. Cooks “just forgot that not using the same butter is going to affect the final taste,” said pastry chef Olivia Wilson, co-owner of Chairlift bakery and Brenner Pass in Richmond, Va. Perhaps, I concluded, the current trend for salty or salted desserts is simply a reaction to a lack of balance created when the salt was written out of recipe history.

“For centuries, really, butter was three to four times saltier than our salted butter because it was used as a preservative,” Elaine Khosrova told me. In “Butter: A Rich History” (Algonquin Books, 2016), she explains that the mineral would extend the fat’s shelf life and, in turn, the butter could be applied as a coating to cooked food to make leftovers last longer.

In the late 19th century, butter making became a big, centralized business with the rise of commercial creameries. According to Khosrova’s book, this also yielded a fresher, milder-tasting product labeled “sweet cream butter” — sweet in the sense that the cream is not cultured or fermented so it’s missing the related sourness; some salt was added, but not as a preserving agent. This was the prototype for the salted butter found in modern-day grocery stores.

France was one of the only places where unpreserved — and therefore drastically less salty — butter existed, dating back to preindustrial society, if not earlier. It held on, and Khosrova says it became popular in the United States when we started emulating the French after World War II. Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” is where I found one of the earliest references to unsalted butter in an American cookbook: “Except for cake frostings and certain desserts for which have specified unsalted butter, American salted and French butter are interchangeable in cooking.”

Judith Hesser was married in 1961, the same year “Mastering” came out; not long after, she discovered her passion for cookbooks and found her “true enjoyment” was baking. “I do not know if unsalted butter was even available in the grocery store,” Hesser said in an email. “I simply bought butter (salted) and used it for baking and everything else.”

The assumption that unsalted butter was superior and should be the default developed later. I asked Amanda Hesser if she’d pinpointed a switch-over moment in recipe language while working on “The New York Times Essential Cookbook,” for which she scoured the newspaper’s archives. “I don’t know if I’d say there was a clear demarcation around butter, per se,” she said. “But ingredient lists began getting much more specific in the 1990s. Previously, a recipe might just call for butter, and people probably used whatever they had.”

Today, most cookbooks stipulate unsalted butter, which might lead you to believe that this has become the de facto choice in residential kitchens. Statistics say otherwise. According to the Dairy Farmers of America, since 2012, 77 percent of the butter sold in America has been salted and 23 percent unsalted. Tom Balmer, executive director of the American Butter Institute, quoted similar figures, but said that when it comes to bulk sales, unsalted butter sells more.

Sure enough, in most restaurant galleys, the majority of butter is unsalted. Pastry chefs will tell you they prefer it because it allows more precision. “I like to strictly control the salt content in my pastries, and for that reason I calculate the percentage of straight salt in proportion to the flour,” said Melissa Weller of Walnut Street Bakery in Philadelphia.

Last summer, Weller traveled to Brittany, while attempting to perfect her version of the kouign amann, the Breton-born pastry that’s composed of caramelized laminated dough. The versions there were notably better than those she’d eaten elsewhere, due to the fact that French butter has a higher fat content than its American counterpart and this makes for a flakier pastry. But there was something else: “It had more complexity, and it was because they’d used salted butter and not because they’d added the salt in.”

When it comes to your more homey items, a plain old-fashioned American-type stick of salted butter from the grocery store is all you need. As luck would have it, that’s what most of us already have. Weller kept that in mind when she developed a recipe for Milk Chocolate and Raspberry Blondies.

Roman’s decision to beat salted butter into her shortbread wasn’t so calculated. “With these, I was sort of like ‘to hell with it,’ ” she said. She doesn’t use salted butter in other baking endeavors. “It’s not something that I buy; it’s something that I put on toast, on pancakes.” In this particular recipe, though, she recognizes the “depth of flavor” salted butter creates, especially with so few ingredients involved. In a more complicated baked good with multiple layers of flavor, the subtlety of salted butter might go undetected. “Baking with salted butter in this instance, I’m forcing you to look at it,” she said. “In most other cakes and cookies it’s more just a backup singer,” she observed.

Wilson likes to use salted Plugra butter in her financiers, the small French cakes prepared with almond meal and browned butter. Roman has made her dough with that butter and, of a similar caliber, Kerrygold. She’s done it with less expensive Horizon Organic and Whole Foods’ 365 butters, too. “They were really great; it’s just a relative scale of greatness,” she said. Unless a recipe states a clear preference, consider these brands interchangeable; salt-wise, variations in concentration abound but are incremental. Should you wish to develop your own recipes or replace the unsalted butter with salted in those you already trust, keep in mind that 1 stick of the latter has approximately 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Judith Hesser bakes with Land O’Lakes or Publix; these days, it’s unsalted, thanks to her daughter’s intervention. “I even use unsalted butter in the old recipes, and I do not adjust the added salt,” the 76-year-old told me, nearly causing me to choke on my shortbread. “I think we consume too much salt.”

Almond Financiers

Makes 60 pieces (48 pieces when baked in a mini muffin pan).

Classic tiny French cakes made with browned butter and finely ground nuts, financiers are named for their shape; they’re intended to look like bars of gold and, accordingly, baked in small rectangular molds. If you don’t have such a mold, you can use a mini muffin pan instead. (In fact, we liked the muffin-pan financiers better.)

There are lots of ways to dress them up: Richmond, Virginia, pastry chef Olivia Wilson places a small piece of fruit on top of each before baking, or, after they’re out of the oven, dips them in tempered chocolate and sprinkles them with chopped almonds.

We have included measures in grams, for precision.

MAKE AHEAD: The batter needs to be refrigerated for at least 1 hour, and up to several days. The financiers are best enjoyed the same day they are made.

Adapted from a recipe by Wilson, co-owner of Chairlift Bakery and Brenner Pass.

13 tablespoons (190 grams) salted butter, preferably a high-fat, European-style brand such as Plugra

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (50 grams) all-purpose flour

¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons (90 grams) sugar

¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons (135 grams) almond flour or almond meal

5 large egg whites (150 grams)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (may substitute scrapings from ½ vanilla bean)

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until it stops bubbling and has turned a golden nutty brown, being careful not to burn the milk solids (if you do burn it, it’s best to start over). Cool to room temperature.

Combine the all-purpose flour, sugar and the almond flour or almond meal in the bowl of a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer. Beat on low speed until well blended.

Slowly whisk in the egg whites, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Mix until everything is incorporated and smooth. Slowly mix in the brown butter and vanilla extract. Transfer to a piping or large zip-top bag (for easy portioning) or bowl. Seal/cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to several days.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or grease the molds or muffin pan with cooking oil spray. Fill each well about two-thirds full. Bake (middle rack) for 5 to 10 minutes or until evenly browned. Dislodge the financiers while still warm.

Nutrition Per piece (based on 60): 45 calories, 0 g protein, 3 g carbohydrates, 4 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 25 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 2 g sugar.

Milk Chocolate and Raspberry Jam Blondies

Makes 24 blondies.

Here, using salted butter instead of adding salt to a batter separately tends to yield a more muted salinity and, in less capable hands, can lead to a saccharine baked good. When you pair it with something tart, like a fruit — or, as it is done here, raspberry jam — you curtail some of that sweetness and wind up with something beautifully balanced.

If you like a more pronounced salty effect and enjoy the crunch that flaky salt provides, sprinkle some of those grains on top of the bars before baking. It’s not necessary here, but it’s all the rage right now.

MAKE AHEAD: The blondies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Adapted from pastry chef Melissa Weller of Walnut Street Cafe in Philadelphia.

1½ cups packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) salted butter, melted and cooled but still pourable

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped into slightly smaller than ½-inch chunks

½ cup raspberry jam

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt (optional)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom and sides of an 8-by-12-inch baking pan with cooking oil spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper so that two of the sides hang over the edges (for easy lifting when the slab of blondies is done).

Whisk together the brown sugar and eggs in a medium bowl until the mixture is smooth and lightened in color. Carefully whisk the melted butter into the sugar mixture a little at a time so it does not slosh out of the bowl, then whisk in the vanilla extract.

Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Use a flexible spatula to blend the flour mixture into the butter mixture, followed by the chopped milk chocolate, until well incorporated. Scrape into the pan, spreading it evenly into the corners.

Drop teaspoonfuls of the jam across the surface of the blondie batter, and then gently pull the tip of a paring knife through the jam in one direction and then the other, creating a zigzag/grid pattern on the surface. Sprinkle the flaky salt on top, if using. Bake (middle rack) for 32 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan front to back halfway through, or until crisp edges form and the top is just set.

Cool in the pan, then lift out the slab and cut into 24 equal pieces.

Nutrition Per piece: 220 calories, 2 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 11 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 40 mg cholesterol, 80 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 20 g sugar.

Salted Butter Chocolate-Chocolate Hazelnut Shortbread

24 servings

An instant classic, the recipe for Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread in Alison Roman’s cookbook, “Dining In,” is one for the viral age — and the ages. It requires few ingredients, is easy to follow and highly adaptable. Simply by switching out some of the flour for cocoa powder, you can make the dough base a chocolate one.

For a complete makeover, why not bring hazelnut to the party and do a Nutella-inspired shortbread? The easiest way to do that is — surprise — with chopped Ferrero Rocher candies. Their sweetness is the perfect counterpart to the more bitter notes of the cocoa powder. No need to swap in a different butter; the salted variety gets along quite well with chocolate.

MAKE AHEAD: The logs of dough need to be refrigerated overnight, and up to 1 week. (The logs of dough can be frozen for up to 1 month.) The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Based on an Alison Roman recipe; adapted by cookbook author and food writer Charlotte Druckman.

18 tablespoons (2¼ sticks) chilled salted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ packed cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona brand

6 ounces Ferrero Rocher candies, coarsely chopped (12 to 13 pieces; round up when in doubt)

Demerara sugar, for rolling

1 large egg, beaten

Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Line a rimmed baking sheet (or two, ideally) with parchment paper.

Combine the butter, both sugars and the vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a handheld electric mixer; beat on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the flour and cocoa powder; beat on low speed until incorporated, then add the chopped Ferrero Rocher candies (they’ll be a little messy, it’s OK), and beat just to incorporate.

Divide the dough in half, placing each half on a large piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Use the plastic or paper (to protect your hands from stickiness) to roll and shape each portion of dough into a log, wrapping it at the same time. Each log should be 2 to 2¼ inches in diameter. Refrigerate until totally firm, about 2 hours, and up to 1 week.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the Demerara sugar on a piece of plastic wrap. Unwrap the logs; brush their exteriors with the beaten egg, and then roll the logs in that sugar. Discard any sugar that’s left behind.

Slice each log into ½-inch-thick rounds, placing them on the prepared baking sheet(s) about 1 inch apart, and sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake (middle rack) for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to brown.

Let cool slightly before serving, or cool completely before storing.

Nutrition Per cookie: 190 calories, 2 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 11 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 75 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 10 g sugar.

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