Why do my pastries come out flat when I use butter instead of margarine?
I am making Danish puff and also mini cream puffs. When I make them with butter, they are coming out thinner and flatter, spreading out. they should be high and round. It calls for margarine (which I don't like and is hard to find except spreads.) Can anyone help?
The recipe for the puffs is:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup flour
- salt
- 4 eggs
Heat water, butter, salt to boil. Remove from heat and add flour all at once. Stir over low heat 1 min. or until forms ball. Cool slightly, add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Drop by tsps. bake at 400° F for 10 min. Reduce heat to 350° F and bake 20 mins.
It is flattening with butter. Should I add more flour? Ideas?
Best Answer
How funny since I learned this same recipe when I first got married 40 years ago. Here are the secrets I've learned. Maybe the extra detail will help you find what went wrong with your attempts.
First, you need to have everything at room temperature, especially the eggs. Once you add the butter (yes, butter, not margarine!) to the boiling water that is boiling and it melts, add the cup of flour quickly to the water and with a big spoon mix it fast. It will form a ball. Get it off the heat.
Now, get a mixer and add each egg, one at a time, and mix it thoroughly after each one - but don't overdo it. Do it quickly.
Now with either a pastry bag or a spoon (I use a spoon), drop rounds of the mix on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use approximately a 1 1/2 to 2 inch spoonful, so you will have anywhere from 18 to 22. Do not play with these.
Put in preheated oven of 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. The baking time will depend on size. When you take out of the oven, they look beautifully puffed, but if not baked properly, will start to deflate. So depending on the size, your oven and your patience, you'll have to adjust, but with practice you will master this. It's okay to open the door at the 20 minute mark to turn the cookie sheet, and get a idea if you need to go 10 or even 15 to 20 more minutes depending on the softness of the puff. Even if they deflate, it's okay.
Cool, cut then in half, fill them with a nice custard cream, top them off with the lid, either make a nice chocolate ganache or frosting or if you are lazy or tired, sprinkle with powdered sugar or cocoa powder.
You can also make whipping cream but once you make a good cream custard, no matter how badly deflated the puffs are, people don't usually notice with something on top. It's always been a hit and long ago I used to make only 12 and filled them up with my own special cream and they were the size of baseballs, topped with homemade frosting and I hope you try it.
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What happens if you use butter instead of margarine?
In baking, melted margarine could work in recipes that call for melted butter, but in recipes that call for softened butter, swapping in tub margarine may change the texture; for example, cakes will be less tender, and cookies will generally spread out more and be less crisp.Can you use butter instead of margarine for pastry?
Why does that matter? Well, because the greater the fat content the better the quality of baked goods. Therefore, butter trumps margarine for baking every time. Butter melts at body temperature, and as such, the tasting experience is a superior flaky pastry, with a 'melt in the mouth' sensation.How do you keep butter from running out of pastry?
Most of the recipes say that after rolling it out you should wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before baking.Why do you add margarine or butter to the pastry?
Loved for its ease of spreading and scooping, margarine has long been a choice ingredient for bakers as its soft texture makes it light work to whip up into buttercream frosting or to cream into sugar for a sponge cake. Whereas butter is an animal fat, margarine is made using vegetable oils but it may contain milk.Cooking With Butter Margarine And Shortening - When To Use Each
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