Too much water in the butter!

[chefpeon]

I'm a U.S. pastry chef and this is the first time I've heard the term "fractionised butter". What does that mean exactly? Higher butterfat?
I have used special "roll-in" type shortening stuff (yuk), I have incorporated flour into lower grade butters, and I have used higher grade butter like Plugra. I rarely get Plugra out here however, so most of the time I mix flour in with the butter. Seems to work just fine.

I've also never heard of beating the water out of the butter either. Whenever I beat butter, it just, you know, whips. I've never seen butter and water separated in a mixer bowl before.

[mudbug]

Originally Posted by chefpeon

I've also never heard of beating the water out of the butter either. Whenever I beat butter, it just, you know, whips. I've never seen butter and water separated in a mixer bowl before.

Try making butter from scratch. You'll see the liquid come out of the butter. I would assume any butter that has excess liquid in it would release the liquid if it were beaten.

[chefpeon]

I have made butter from scratch.....accidentally......when I left my mixer on high while whipping cream and walked away from it. There's definitely "water" (or isn't that called "buttermilk"?) in the bowl separate from the newly formed butter.

But when I put butter on a mixer to beat it, I never get that kind of separation. That's what I was referring to.

[mudbug]

Yes, it is buttermilk. Save it for baked goods, there's nothing better for moist cake. Perhaps you've never purchased butter with the water content of the butter in question above...

[Patissiou]

Chefpeon, what percentage of flour do you add to your butter?

[chefpeon]

Chefpeon, what percentage of flour do you add to your butter?

About 5 percent works good for me when I use the lower grade run-of-the-mill butter. I use bread flour by the way.

[felixe the dog]

Chefpeon, the term "fractionised" is technical and is a process used by butter manufacturers to produce flexible butter plates which are specifically manufactured for lamination in dough.

Fractionation

A process for separating a substance into more or less purified groups of its constituents.
For milk fat the process used is a purely physical process called dry fractionation by crystallisation; the fractionation is carried out without any additives.
The liquid fat is cooled slowly in vats called crystallisers; during this cooling process crystals of the fat constituents with a high melting point (called stearin) form; the latter are then separated from the remaining oil (called oleine) by filtration.

What does this mean?, basically they seperate the fats and the fats with the higher melting points are retained in the product; this gives a butter sheet with similar working properties to a danish/croissant margarine but with a superior flavour and a better finish.

Can you do this in your bakery? No! That is why we add flour to butter to give it plasticized properties.

The bottom line is that butter is not always butter, we now have specific butters for specific purposes, if you can't get the info out of your local food rep, then you should call the company direct and talk to someone with technical knowledge.

Like I said, Australian butter is not crap - I love it!

[chefpeon]

for the info on fractionised butter! Is this a European thing, or does anyone know if there is a US brand name I can look for, or ask my supplier for?
Is there a European brand name for it?