Using unsalted butter allows the natural flavor to meld with the other ingredients in baked goods to get that famous вЂњbutteryвЂќ flavor. вЂ¦the addition of salt can mask most of that sweetness and also the creamy flavor of natural butter. One statement, in this regard, struck me as bordering on magical thinking:

Unless salted butter had so much salt that it overwhelmed the butter taste, the salt is likely to bring out the flavor and make it taste sweeter. Salt doesnвЂ™t cover up sweetness, it enhances it. One is that all that salt masks the flavor of that sweet cream butter. IвЂ™ve seen some fairly вЂtheoretical claimsвЂ™ attached to this idea. Some just say вЂsalt to taste.вЂ™ In these recipes, it wonвЂ™t matter as much whether you use salted or unsalted butter. Also, not all recipes call for a specific amount of salt. If the salt makes it saltier, youвЂ™ll add less salt. You will be adjusting the amount of salt to your taste preference, anyway. If youвЂ™re a home cook who tastes your food as you go, it wonвЂ™t matter as much. This explains why some recipes call for unsalted butter. Since a cookbook writer canвЂ™t know what the salt percentage in your butter will be and recipes often call for precise amounts of salt, itвЂ™s better to use unsalted butter when perfecting a recipe so that varying salt amounts in salted butter donвЂ™t throw off the results. However, this matters more when writing precise recipes in cookbooks than it does for the home cook. This will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Salted butter can contain anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5% added salt. Use Unsalted Butter So You Can Control the Amount of Salt in the Dish LetвЂ™s look at all these reasons, in turn.

Salted butter contains more water than unsalted butter.

Because unsalted butter is inferior, lower grade butter (the salt is added as a coverup).

So you can control the amount of salt that goes into the dish.

Here are some of the top reasons given for choosing unsalted: I remember about 5 years ago Sainsbury's started calling butter 'salted butter', which confused my partner at the time as she just wanted 'butter', thinking this was an extra salty butter.Whether to use unsalted butter depends a lot on the type of cooking youвЂ™re doing. What's interesting is that, with the prevalence of internet-based recipes from the US and other English-speaking countries, the term 'salted' is now being applied to plain old 'butter'. Compare the marketing of major brands in the UK in their use of butter vs unsalted butter: This is because historically all butter was 'salted butter', with 'unsalted butter' being very expensive before the advent of refrigeration due to its low shelf life.ДЄdditionally, the majority of products labelled 'butter' will be salted butter, with the unsalted butter being explicitly labelled 'unsalted butter', e.g. In the UK, if a recipe just calls for 'butter', it is asking for salted butter. This is a bigger investment, though, so only worth doing if you really want to get the recipe as good as possible. If you have the time, interest, and money, you can try making the recipe twice (once with salted, once with unsalted butter) and see which tastes better.

Where was the recipe written? Different cultures assume different butters (and salt levels may vary between countries for salted butter!) I will not give an exhaustive list here, mostly because I don't know, but it's worth researching.

Older recipes tend to assume salted butter.)

How old is the recipe? (Newer recipes tend to assume unsalted butter.

Is there additional salt in the recipe? (If not, it may expect some salt from the butter.

If you are not sure whether a particular recipe calls for salted or unsalted, look for clues. If you need to substitute one for another, you can estimate how much salt is in salted butter and adjust your recipe accordingly. By using unsalted butter, the only salt remaining in the recipe is what you have added, and you have more careful control over the outcome. It's possible to easily oversalt or undersalt just by using a different brand - leading to unpredictable results. However, different brands of salted butter have different amounts of salt added, which makes it difficult to know how much total salt is going into your food. If it's just being melted on some vegetables, then salted butter is probably fine.

You can always add salt to your unsalted butter, but you can't take it out if you want it less salty! Generally, you should use unsalted butter.

Salted or unsalted butter for bread