Probably a dumb question....

[acagreene]

but, when a recipe calls for butter - specifically in baking - is the default salted butter or unsalted butter?? I am never quite sure which to use.... TIA.

[KarenS]

Unsalted. Esp in baking - you don't want any additional salt.

In general I always buy unsalted butter and add salt if I need to. :)

Kare

[TracieB]

Hmm... I always use regular salted butter. I only use unsalted if the recipe specifically says so. All of my stuff always comes out pretty dang tasty too, if I do say so myself!

[KarenS]

Honestly I think that there's so little salt in salted butter that it doesn't *really* matter. But just as a matter of principle, I use unsalted. :)

Karen

[Katy]

I usually use salted butter (I think it tastes better on toast :D), but then again, I barely add salt to recipes. I rarely salt my food either.

[EmilyBronte]

I found this on foodnetwork.com:

What's the deal with salted and unsalted butter?

A: Butter comes two ways: salted and unsalted. Salt is added to butter for flavor and as a preservative so it will have a longer shelf life. Salt, however, can sometimes overpower the sweet flavor of the butter and can also mask odors. Additionally, the amount of salt added to salted butter varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, so it's hard to know how much extra salt you're adding to a recipe. Using unsalted butter allows the chef to control the amount of salt in a recipe.

If you have no choice but to use salted butter in a recipe, the rule of thumb is to omit about 1/4 teaspoon salt per 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter.

Unsalted butter has a short shelf life because it contains no preservatives. If you buy unsalted butter and do not use it right away, it is best to freeze it. If properly wrapped so it won't pick up any odors, butter can be frozen for around six months. Just remember to defrost the butter overnight in the refrigerator before using it.

-Food Network Kitchens

[amew]

I cook exclusively with unsalted butter, but I didn't realize that it has such a short shelf life. Does anyone know how long it can hang in my fridge before I need to be concerned about it going bad?

[jenjunum]

amew - your butter should have a date on it. I don't think the shelf life is really "short" just shorter than salted butter. I don't recall off-hand but I think the shelf life is still several months.

I use unsalted butter so I can add my own salt to my cooking and baking. Plus I think I use better salt than a large company would.

But also unsalted butter is usually fresher. It doesn't have the preservatives in it so it doesn't last as long. I like the idea of using fresher ingredients (especially when it takes little to no effort on my part).

[Mrs. M.]

They don't sell salted butter here, so I always use unsalted. I think salted butter is odd - isn't it weird if you put it on bread with jam or in something sweet?

Even with unsalted, I have never had butter go bad. Just keep it in the fridge.