shortening vs. butter/malt syrup?

[mudbug]

Posting for a friend:

Quote:

"Hi there,

I wondered if it’ll make a difference in the texture of the baked good wether I useshortening or butter(or margarine).Because many recipes claim shortening is best for piecrusts, some pound cake recipes use a butter/shortening combination and so on.I’m a bitconfused with that because in Germany shortening is hardly used in baking, mostly forfrying or so, so I don’t know when to use what.

Second I’d like to know what you experienced when using barley-malt-syrup in baking.It’sso often said that it gives more flavor and helps the yeast rising but actually I never feltor tasted a difference when I used it.Maybe I handled it wrong?!What do you think? Hope somebody can give me a little “chemics lesson”.

Thanks for now, have a great day,
Sanni"

[cape chef]

The Barley malt Should not be tasted in the bread when finished, It is only there for the yeast to eat, I have used it before with very good results,Also honey and maple syrup I have used as well. I am not a chemist but at work we use Primex Shorting for all our pie crust (same as crisco but 50# bulk)The shorting is more stable then butter and also give a nice flake to the crust, That is not to say butter can't be used,However I also have to keep cost in mind My pastry chef preps over 100 crust a week,Crisco has a butter flavored bar that my wife uses for her crust and I think she makes the best crust in the world,Thin ,tender and flaky kinda like me But You have to decide which you prefere there are so mary recipes for pie crust you can go bonkers,Just find one you like and roll with it(no pun Intended)So are you more confused now?
cc