Butter
A solid dairy fat made by churning cream, usually about 80% milkfat, with the rest mostly water and milk solids.
- Baking ingredients and additives
Also called: unsalted butter, salted butter
Butter adds flavor, tenderness and flakiness to baked goods. Its temperature changes how it works: cold butter makes flaky pastry and scones, soft butter at about 65°F (18°C) creams with sugar to trap air for cakes and cookies, and melted butter gives chewier, denser results.
Most bakers use unsalted butter so they can control the salt. European-style butters have slightly more fat (about 82 to 84%), which makes richer, flakier pastry.
Bake it at VanillaGoods
- Baking Academy lessonBaking basics 2 creaming butter and sugar
- Dessert BuilderBoston cream cake
- Kids KitchenLesson 08 creaming butter and sugar
Tools for this
KitchenAid Artisan 5-Qt Stand MixerDoes the beating and kneading for you, hands-free.See it on Amazon
Spring Chef Pastry BlenderCuts cold butter in fast for flaky layers.See it on Amazon
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Related entries
Sources
Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.
- United States Standards for Grades of Butter, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
- Butter: Chemical and Physical Properties and Health Effects (FAPC-253), Oklahoma State University, Food and Agricultural Products Center (Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service)
- How Ingredients Affect "How the Cookie Crumbles", Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (AnswerLine)
- Butter (Q34172), Wikidata