Butter alternative for making breads

I'm interested in making dairy-free Banana nut bread. What can I use as an alternative to butter? I'm aware that there is soy and coconut milk as alternatives to cow's milk, but I'm not immediately sure that using those will work as a substitute, as cow's milk is to soy milk as (regular) butter is to soy butter (which is not the same concept, as I understand?). Basically I'm wondering what products exist which would provide the chemical properties of butter without being dairy.

Thanks!

Result, using rfusca's advice:

banana nut bread

Best Answer

Butter flavored shortening and a touch of water (because butter has water in it too). The key thing here is that you have a have a solid fat because you're beating air bubbles into the butter during the creaming process. These bubbles are needed for the bread to properly rise during baking.

The browning process may be an issue though - shortening has no protein. You're after an umami flavor from the Malliard reaction ... it may be difficult to add that because of the lack of protein. A pinch of MSG maybe, for the umami?

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Quick Answer about "Butter alternative for making breads"

You can replace butter with any of a variety of other solid fats. Margarine, shortening, lard or coconut oil can all take the place of butter. Consider flavor when you swap out one of these fats for butter. Margarine may not alter the flavor substantially, but lard or coconut oil will.

What do bakeries use instead of butter?

Vegetable shortening is also one for most preferred butter substitutes by many bakers. Despite it being 100% fat compared to butter's 75-80%, it's still a great replacement!

What can I use in place of butter substitute?

If your recipe calls for melted butter, which is common in many quick breads, pancakes, brownies, blondies and some cakes, you can substitute an equal amount of neutral oil like safflower, canola or vegetable. If you want to experiment with flavors, try virgin coconut or olive oil.

10 ALTERNATIVES TO BUTTER

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