butter vs cooking oil

[kas]

I enjoy making quick breads and cakes but I reallly dislike the texture of those made with cooking oil. Is there a rule for converting oil to butter or margaine?
kas

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh

Um, well, there are differences between butter and oil. The biggest, and probably the important one, is that butter is only 80% oil. The other 20% being milk solids and water. That could cause some problems as it will change the moisture of your product. Clairified butter on the other hand should be interchangeable directly.

That all being said, I am not a baker, and I simply eyeball my measurements, and mix by feel. I just toss in my soffened butter, and stop adding water when it feels right. Bad of me I know, I should scale my ingredients...

[Suzanne]

Yes, this is probably better answered by the bakers among us, so I am moving your question there.

[Headless Chicken]

Baaaaaad boy keeper!

But yes, butter can be interchanged when clarified but since the 2 are soo different, you can't just simply switch just because. It all depends on what you're making like a carrot cake would probarbly better suited with oil rather then butter (though it would make an interesting experiment).

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hehe.


Yes, butter does taste different. Sweeter I think than oils. Works nice in cakes and in quickbreads and in sweet breads like http://www.mindspring.com/~cborgnaes...eca_frame.html

Me, I usually only bake quickbreads and pancakes. I've done them so often I just feel it. On humid days I use less liquide, and on dry days more. Same to with cornbreads and derivitives of those, and with beanflour breads. When I am learning a new bread or "baking" bread I will use my scales

Oh, got to ask, what type of oil are you using? If it isn't a flavourless or neutral oil, yes, I can see the flavour being off putting. Nothing worse that things like Mazola Corn Oil. Nothing overpowers that taste

[kas]

It is not the flavor so much I object to, altought maybe I should . It is the heavy wet texture that seems to result with oil. And carrot cake seems ok with that but for example I have tried rhubarb and bananna breads that called for oil and they are just too wet.
kas

[mudbug]

kas,

I suggest you make your life easier by using recipes which are already written without oil. This way you will avoid unexpected results which may result from substituting butter for oil in recipes that were originally written to include oil.

Sources:

Banana Bread:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

Rhubarb Bread:
http://www.google.com/search?num=100...il&btnG=Search

Carrot Cake:
http://www.google.com/search?num=100...il&btnG=Search