Baking question: margarine or butter?

kitschkitty

I'm not a butter fan, except for shortbread where it has to be butter all the way.

As I'm trying to avoid saturated fat, I stick to can't believe it's not butter type spreads, as I was surprised to be told by the nurses that these are actually high in monounsaturates, medium in polyunsaturates and low in saturates.

I used to use marge, but I don't like the taste anymore (and the healthier ones are much more expensive)!

MissKay

I was always taught that margarine is better in cakes as it has a higher melting point so will produce a lighter product. I always use lard (or half lard, half stork) in pastry for the same reason - it will make crisper 'shorter' pastry.

I only use butter in things like biscuits where you need it for flavour and then I usually half & half it.

Patchwork_Quilt

I definitely use butter all the time. If cost is an issue, go for value butter. I just can't bear the thought of eating all those chemicals in margarine.

The best baking margarine I have found, however, is Stork in blocks

Hope this helps

Norman_Bean

Hi all

Now that I'm an OS MSE I'm obviously doing lots of baking and I'm spending a small fortune on butter .... cheapest is €1 for 250g at Aldi/Lidl which I think is quite expensive ... guess it's cheaper in UK?

Can I just substitute margarine for butter or do I really need to use butter all the time?

It's mainly for muffins, cakes and biscuits

Many thanks

Norman x

SunnyGirl

I use butter as personally I think that it has a better taste. My Mum, however, has always used soft marg in baking and hers always tastes lovely. I'd maybe use butter for biscuits where you can really taste it and soft marg for everything else.

I get butter at Netto where it's 76p for a block I don't know how this compares with Aldi or Lidl?

Hope this helps.

greenbee

If you're baking, you can use margarine, but make sure you use the stuff that says it's suitable for baking. Some people prefer to use margarine for baking, as its easier to get flat cupcakes etc. than with butter.

julietiff

I always use margarine for baking, couldn't afford it other
wise - butter in our house is for fresh bread and sandwiches

Norman_Bean

Thanks ladies

Good tip about biscuits - maybe I'll experiment a bit with marg.

I'm going to stock up on butter when I go to UK at Christams and freeze it

X

Norman_Bean

julietiff wrote: »

I always use margarine for baking, couldn't afford it other
wise - butter in our house is for fresh bread and sandwiches

Sorry Julie our posts crossed.

I'm going to try marg as as I say it's costing a small fortune. That's the other thing now that we have fresh HM bread all the time the butter is getting eaten at a rate of knots!

May have to resort to dripping on bread a la my nan!

x

Olliebeak

I use Asda's Sunflower Spread (Flora equivalent) for the majority of my baking and never had any complaints yet - in fact I have to hide my cake tin!

Some recipes call for Sunflower Oil and then I again use Asda's own.

If it was something for a pressie (scones, cakes etc), then I'd probably use a mid-price butter.