Baking question: margarine or butter?

peb

Another one here who only uses butter.

Stocked up on Sainsburys Organics when they sold it off at 60 p but have now run out - the price now is ridiculous and simply I am not baking as much

Margarine is not allowed in the house.

amandada

I used to use marge (usually Stork) for baking, but it's butter all the way for me now due to the hydrogenated fat

sandy2_2

What difference, if any, does using salted butter as opposed to unsalted make to cakes etc

drifter34

i think salted tastes a little different, but unsalted is great to make cream with. stork marg block that is and believe it or not my diabetic nurse told me to use a little olive oil spread instead of marg
also if you make shortcrust pastry it is ideal if you put block marg in the freezer for about 15 mins prior to using then grate it into the flour
my nan is 83 and swears by stork marg block& bero flour
for years all people used when times where bad was marg the reason alot of recipes ask for butter not just for taste but because the higher the fat content the richer+better quality the finished product will be i think it is just a matter of budgets colourings are in everything and beta carotene is a pigment from carrot as carmosine in strawberry yoghurts is animals blood , as most of the coatings on things such as a famous brand of smiley sweets (mmmmmmmmmmssssssssss) lol the thing that is used to give a high gloss is carnuba wax which is what your local car wash would use it is great having an E NUMBER BOOK can tell you lol

Ben84

I use margarine in many recipes because I like it. Butter is best for some things, mostly biscuits I find, but I don't like it in pastry or cakes. I have an old copy of the stork cookery book which contains many recipes designed for margarine. I find they work really well, and taste good. When I use other books I do often swap butter for margarine and get good results too, but the stork book already assumes you're using margarine and contains many nice recipes, so I think it would be good for someone trying margarine for the first time.

Margarine isn't all the same however. Some are poor quality and full of junk ingredients. Others (usually the lower fat types) simply contain too much water for baking.

You need a high fat content for good baking. After trying lots of different types, I wouldn't even attempt to bake with a products that has less than 59% fat content. The fat content should be clearly listed on the packet, and they usually tell you if it's suitable for baking. This doesn't however mean it's the best product for your recipe, but it should at least work.

I normally buy tesco or sainsburys own brand margarines as they're trans fat free. I like the block margarine for making cakes, some biscuits and general baking. Pastry I always make with 50/50 trex and sunflower spread. I also like vitalite, it's a good all round product for cakes, biscuits and pastry, but it does have a strong flavour. Not a bad flavour, I quite like it, but perhaps not everyone's taste.

elisebutt65

Or buy cheap cream and get the kids to make the butter for you with a jam jar - LOL - I then use the buttermilk for scones as well.

Marge of any sort is also banned in my house as are 'spreads' - Gakkk!!!

chalky_75

Funny I always used to use marge AND I am really OS but butter is soooooooooooooooo much beter. I would rather eat a little less but have a better flavour

BrandNewDay

I have ordered some Stork with my next Tesco order... I do use a lot of butter in baking and Stork is so much cheaper than butter that I thought I'd give it a try. If that works well, I may use a store brand of the same thing (so long as the ingredients are the same.)
Speaking of which... does anybody bake with lard? I have lard, but I only ever use it for frying on occassion. How would it work in short crust?

comping_cat

I use butter or lard for my baking, may have more calories, but its more natural than marg. I do use sunflower/veg oil for frying, but we dont eat much fried food so its not used that much.

As Thriftlady said, thats the whole point of home baking, better tasting, healthier food (food you know what the ingredients are!!)

tomstickland

I don't ever buy marge for anything. Real butter or nothing.