Read a thing online that made me try cold butter for scones and wow

Honestly, I've been making scones for like 5 years and always used cold margarine because I thought butter was too expensive for baking. But last week I stumbled on this blog post from a baker in Maine who broke down the science of fat in pastry. She said using cold butter that's 82% fat content makes the layers fluffier because the steam pockets form better during baking. I figured I'd test it out with a $4 block of Kerrygold just to see if she was right. The scones came out taller and flakier than anything I ever made before, no joke. I'm still mad I wasted all that time using margarine when the real deal costs maybe a buck more per batch. Has anyone else had a random fact suddenly change how they bake something simple?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_thea1mo ago

And another thing nobody's mentioning is grating frozen butter into your flour instead of cutting it in, @wesleyb20 is right about the freezer trick but grating gives you those perfect little flecks without warming anything up.

mary_west1mo ago

Did you let the butter get too warm while cutting it in? That was my first mistake when I switched from margarine. I learned you gotta work fast and keep things chilled, pop the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes if your hands are warm. The 82% fat thing is real though, cheaper butter has more water which makes the dough tough. I keep a couple blocks of the good stuff in the freezer now just for baking.

wesleyb201mo ago

Start freezing the good stuff myself, almost feels wrong to put expensive butter in there like it's a time out or something.