Recipes

[We rescue cats]

I do very little baking and if I do any it is with salted butter, that's the only type I buy.

[Love to read]

I love watching cooking shows and a chef on one of them once said that Unsalted Butter is likely to be fresher as it will not last as long without salt, which is a preservative as well as a flavor enhancer. I accidentally bought a package of unsalted butter recently and used it as a spread on rolls.  Frankly, it tasted almost the same as it does with salt.  

[Patriot3]

My Mom lived to be 92, came from a big farm family who always used salted butter.

I've always used salted butter and don't see the big whoop when it comes to unsalted butter.  Then they turn around and add salt???

Maybe it is better control, but I don't really buy that and I don't want to go thru all of that.  As far as toast, if I'm going to use butter, I want to taste it

[shy bobcat]

I had to go and check my box of butter since I'm not always consistent in my choice of butter with or without salt.  These days I only use  EVOO and butter in cooking and baking. 

[JeanLouiseFinch]

Somehow, salt supposedly enhances sweetness in baking.  I never buy unsalted butter, I only buy Kerrygold salted butter.  I use it in all my recipes. If the recipe also calls for additional salt, I'll decrease the amount slightly

[Scooby Doo]

Apparently it's more about the water content rather than salt.  This is from Cooks Illustrated:

We advise against cooking with salted butter for a couple reasons. The amount of salt in salted butter varies from brand to brand—it can range from 1.25 percent to 1.75 percent of the total weight, making it impossible to offer conversion amounts that will work with all brands. Also, salted butter almost always contains more water than unsalted butter. The water in butter ranges from 10 to 18 percent. In baking, butter with a low water content is preferred, since excess water can interfere with the development of gluten. In fact, when we used the same brand of both salted and unsalted butter to make brownies and drop biscuits, tasters noticed that samples made with salted butter were a little mushy and pasty; they preferred the texture of baked goods made with unsalted butter.

[alliswell]

@Flatbush   Have you ever tried Ghee [clarified butter)?  I prefer unsalted butter, but since using Ghee, instead, I like it much better. 

             

[Flatbush]

It seems on the whole, most posters do not use unsalted and do not notice much of a difference.

Some posters do use unsalted tho i.e.for health or preference.

[Flatbush]

@alliswell 

Well, think I will try it. Never thought about this.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

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@alliswell wrote:

@Flatbush   Have you ever tried Ghee [clarified butter)?  I prefer unsalted butter, but since using Ghee, instead, I like it much better. 

             

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Yes, it's one of the healthy fats I use, but I don't use it as often as I use regular butter.