The Case For Solely Using Unsalted Butter When Baking

We all have our favorite pantry staples, as well as those items we never buy, and for me, unsalted butter is in the latter category. It's not that I don't bake, but rather, that I grew up eating baked goods that were made with salted butter and now I find that anything made with the unsalted kind tastes a bit flat to me. While salted butter will always be my go-to, that's just one person's opinion, and we here at The Takeout are all about providing a balanced perspective. Presenting the case for unsalted butter is Joanne Gallagher, co-founder of the cooking blog Inspired Taste. As Gallagher explains, "When baking with salted butter, you don't have much control over the amount of salt going into the cookie, potentially leaving you with a product that is too salty or unbalanced." She says that using unsalted butter allows you to add the precise amount of salt you need without dealing with the potential wild card of one brand of butter being saltier than another.

As Gallagher sees it, the best way to approach a recipe is to stick with unsalted butter and then add the amount of salt that the recipe calls for. This, she says, allows for "the best consistency and flavor without the risk of over-salting." However, Gallagher also points out that you can always sprinkle some salt over the top of your baked goods if you feel the finished product is lacking in flavor. As she notes of this salty topping, " It even enhances some of the sweetness."

If you only have salted butter on hand, you can still use it for baking. In fact, some recipes, such as our copycat Walker's shortbread and Swedish apple pie, specifically call for salted butter. For a recipe specifying unsalted butter, though, Joanne Gallagher says the best way to compensate is to leave out any salt that is called for. You may not want to exclude the entire amount, though, as typically salted butter contains about ¼ teaspoon of salt per four-ounce stick. If your recipe only uses a few tablespoons of butter but takes a full teaspoon of salt, omitting the entire amount would be overkill.

Still, as Gallagher points out, "You can always add more salt if you need it, but you can't take it away as easily," which is a basic rule of thumb for cooking in general. In time, you may come to discover your own preferences regarding the use of salted vs. unsalted butter, but with a new recipe, it may be best to err on the side of caution. After all, Gallagher reminds us, "If you find yourself cutting back too much on salt, simply add a little sprinkle to the top of your cookies while cooling to bring [them] back together."