Reader Nicole writes: You mention in several places the importance of relatively dry butter, and it got me thinking – could you make laminated dough with cooled browned butter, since the cooking process will drive off some water? How about something more solid at room temperature, like cocoa butter or coconut oil (the kind that […]
READ ONReader Diane offers a flurry of interesting questions: I was under the impression that salted butter has more water content than unsalted butter. I may be wrong. And it seems you wanted drier butter for Kouign Amann. So why not use unsalted butter in Kouign Amann? Also when buying salted butter I do not know […]
READ ONReader Mike writes: Growing up, we never kept butter in the fridge, we kept it in a cupboard, in a cool dark dry place. I mentioned this fact aloud when I lived in CA or NY or one of the places in between, and my roommates looked at me like I had said I wanted […]
READ ONSeveral questions have come in along those lines the last few days. “Dry butter” is a term that French pastry chefs frequently employ, usually in regard to the cultured butter they use for laminated pastry. I confess I don’t know what the technical definition of dry butter is in France (France being France, I’m sure […]
READ ONBecause nobody else is going to save you any, that’s for sure. It’s just too sweet and buttery. Tender on the inside and crispy around the edges like a croissant, it has a crackly caramel top that adds just the right je-ne-sais-quois (I wrote that in French because I don’t know how to say it […]
READ ONI love questions like that, reader Melissa, thank you. Butter is salted for purposes of preservation. Modern refrigeration obviates the need for salt these days, but more than a few people are simply accustomed to the taste. When butter manufacturers salt butter, they add salt at a proportion of 1 – 2%. That doesn’t sound […]
READ ONReader Alexandra writes: Your post about the seasonal changes of dairy reminded me of a treat from my adoptive homeland, the Neterlands. There, we have something called graskaas (pron. hraahs-kaahs) i.e. grass cheese. It is from the time when cows first get to nibble the first shoots of grass after a long, long cold winter […]
READ ONMy feeling on that is yes. Though I’m not expert on Continental flours, it’s my impression that the gluten in French flour behaves differently than that in American flours. It seems not to be as stretchy as our own, but firmer. That difference may also help retain the integrity of the layers in kouign amann […]
READ ONSo what’s winter butter? That’s a good question, and the answer is pretty much what you’d think: butter that’s produced in the wintertime. However it isn’t just cold weather that effects the texture of butter, it’s the winter diet of the dairy cows who give the milk. On a traditional farms, cows graze in the […]
READ ONHey all! It’s so like me to lose emails, and recently I did it again. A whole bunch of them. So, if you sent in a question these last few weeks and have not received a reply, please re-send. I’m not ignoring you, I’m just technologically incompetent. – Joe
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