Fats: the baker’s friend

Regardless of all the emotional baggage we all have about fat, let’s start off on the right foot and think of it as a baker’s ally.

Fat is understood to be that which “shortens” or tenderizes. The term “shortening” refers to any fat used in baking -- butter, margarine, vegetable oil, lard, and, obviously, vegetable shortening. Shortening takes its name from the fact that fat by its very nature coats the protein molecules in flour, making it difficult for them to combine and create that stretchy material called gluten. Any gluten strands that do form are “shortened,” (rather than lengthened, as is the goal with fat-free hearth breads). Rather than the chewy, open texture of low-fat hearth breads, when you use copious fats in a recipe with flour, you have the tender, fine-grained texture of a cake.

There are other ingredients that can do some of this work that fall under the “dairy” category, ingredients such as milk, cream and eggs. You’ll want to check there as well as here. And, in discussing fats, remember that you have more options for those that you put “on” your baked goods as opposed to “in.” In other words, there are some types of fats that are fine as “spreads” but can’t be substituted for “real” fats in baking without damage to your recipe.

Fat takes many forms. It’s really nature’s very clever way to store energy. Animals have it; so do plants. Most animal fats are solid at room temperature; most vegetable fats are liquid. Fat is a much more compact storage unit than is a carbohydrate. A gram of fat provides more than twice as much energy as a gram of carbohydrates (or a gram of protein for that matter).

Our general philosophical position about fat in baking is to use as much of the appropriate one as optimizes whatever you’re making. The trick with deciding how much to eat of the delicious thing you’ve created is to remember that you’re not out loping over the tundra looking for the next mastodon to put on your plate, you’re only ambling across the kitchen to the refrigerator a few times. Or, perhaps more realistically, the trick is to pick a fat that balances both your health needs and the particular recipe you’re making.

Fats in baking

Certain baked goods, such as most piecrusts and cookies, have to be made with a solid fat, to attain their distinctive texture. Even solid fats vary in their melting points enough (see below) that you’ll see a difference in texture between cookies made with shortening and those made with butter; since butter has a lower melting point, it will produce a softer, flatter cookie than shortening. Lard will produce a different result in a piecrust than will butter. And butter cannot be substituted for suet in a steamed pudding without changing the results.

So, why use vegetable shortening instead of butter, or margarine instead of shortening? Each has a slightly different melting point and taste, and each will yield a slightly different final product. Become familiar with the information below, which should help you decide what fat to use or how to substitute one for another.

The solid fats

Butter:

This byproduct of milk is 80% fat with the remainder water and milk solids. Butter can be either salted or “sweet,” meaning without salt, which is prized for its delicate flavor and is the type we call for in our recipes. Like other dairy products, and unlike most other fats, butter contains a significant natural nutritional boost in the form of Vitamin A. Although whipped butter is still butter, it’s had air beaten into it so it is expanded and can’t be used successfully in most recipes with volume measurements.

Butter is made up of several types of fats; slightly more than half is saturated, a bit more than a quarter is mono-unsaturated and the remainder is poly-unsaturated. It also contains some cholesterol, but it also contains some calcium, potassium and lots of Vitamin A. The melting point of butter is just about at body temperature, which is why it has such a wonderful “mouth feel.” Because of the milk solids in it, it begins to burn at a lower temperature than vegetable oil. (See melting points and smoke points below).

Butter has another attribute that is key in baking; it tastes wonderful. When you do use it in baking, buy the best. All butter is not the same. Good butter is very firm which means it will hold more air in creaming which will help leaven cakes and it will create a flakier result in a pastry.

In making pie crusts, butter, with its lower melting point, is often used in conjunction with shortening, providing wonderful flavor, and enhancing browning of the crust (because of its lactose -- “milk sugar.”) It is a more brittle fat than lard or vegetable shortening, harder when cold, and softer when warmed to room temperature. When working with butter in piecrusts, biscuits, laminated doughs, anything where butter must be “rubbed” into the flour, everything must be kept cool. If the butter is overworked and warm, too much will melt into the flour, changing the texture of whatever you’re baking. Since it is also about 8o% fat with the rest mostly water, you may need to use more butter and less water if substituting butter for lard or vegetable shortening in a recipe.

Salted butter will keep almost half a year if stored where it is dark and not subject to a lot of temperature fluctuation. Unsalted butter has a shorter shelf life, about a quarter of a year. It’s what our recipes are written for and the one we prefer. But either way, it’s best to buy what you need and use it up fairly quickly

European-style “cultured” butters

These are beginning to be found on some of our supermarket shelves. They are higher in butterfat, anywhere from 84% to 88% and are traditionally made from cream that has been allowed to develop some flavor through the activity of its inherent bacteria before being churned into butter. Their flavors are more complex and intense. In baked goods where butter is a primary ingredient, such as short bread or butter cookies, this butter not only adds its flavor but it will make these baked goods crisper.

Clarified butter

This is butter that has had the water and milk solids removed so it is 100% fat. As a result it has a much longer shelf life and a much higher smoke point than regular butter (see below). While it can be used to fry things without smoking, it is missing the flavor components that the milk solids provide. But it does have its uses. Clarified butter cannot be creamed but it’s wonderful for sautéing, in sauces such as hollandaise and béarnaise, and in baked goods where you don’t need to cream the butter (madeleines, genoise).

Margarine

This butter substitute has been around for well over a century. It was first developed in 1869 by a French food research chemist, responding to a directive by Napoleon to find a substitute for butter, presumably because it would be cheaper to make than the original. The original margarine contained a lot of animal fats combined with some vegetable oils. As we acquired the ability to hydrogenate liquid vegetable oils to make them solid, the percentage of vegetable fats increased as the animal fats decreased.

For many years, margarine was considered a “healthy” substitute for butter because of its lower percentage of saturated fats; then it’s reputation began to deteriorate because of the discovery of the negative health implications of trans-fatty acids a by-product of hydrogenation. However, there are now some margarines and/or margarine butter-blends on the shelf that are considered “heart healthy” with reduced and even no trans-fatty acids.

Most margarines are made almost entirely from vegetable oils, with added skim milk or whey solids (derived from milk) in some brands. And, like butter, they must be, as mandated by the USDA, at least 80% fat to mimic butter. They also must be fortified with vitamin A. “Diet” or “light” margarine is simply margarine that has had air and/or water whipped into it. Like whipped butter, it can’t be used successfully as a solid-fat substitute in baking.

With so many margarine products on the shelf, it’s hard to figure out how they differ and what to use when you’re baking. Two key things to look for are the number of calories per tablespoon (for a solid, block margarine, it will be 100) and/or that it contain at least 60% fat. Other products may be fine as spreads but will not fare well as a baking ingredient. In general, we don’t like to use it in baking; it seems an inferior compromise between butter and vegetable shortening, with flavor not matching butter’s, and a melting point not as favorable as shortening’s.

Lard

Lard was the primary baking fat available to our ancestors. As you can see from the chart below, it’s significantly lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than butter. It is made up of about 40% saturated, 50 % monounsaturated, and 10 % polyunsaturated fatty acids. The best lard is known as “leaf” lard which comes from the fat around the kidneys of a pig (like suet which comes from the equivalent place in a cow or sheep). But most lard is rendered (melted and clarified) from pork trimmings. This is likely the kind you’ll find at the grocery. It tends to be milder in flavor and more homogenous in texture. Both are 100% fat and are softer and oilier than other solid fats. Because of its large crystalline structure, it works exceptionally well in biscuits and pie crusts, but won’t create as fine a grain in cakes as butter, margarine or shortening. And you can’t find anything better for frying doughnuts. (If you fry doughnuts correctly, they’ll only absorb about a teaspoon of lard each; and they’ll have that flavor that your taste buds will immediately identify as DOUGHNUT!)

Lard is somewhat soft even when cold, so when making a pie dough, some of the fat coats the flour, inhibiting much of the gluten development. The remaining fat, which stays in larger flakes, melts at a slightly higher temperature than butter, keeping the layers of flour and water separate. This also allows what little water is in the dough to turn to steam and separate the layers further. This is what creates a piecrust’s flakiness.

Because of its characteristic structure, lard makes the flakiest crust possible. If you’re considering making an old-fashioned pie, try making it with the crust it grew up with. Just make sure the lard is fresh, and keep your serving moderate. Lard will develop an off flavor fairly quickly, so try to buy it fresh, and use it soon.

Suet

Suet is the equivalent of leaf lard but come from the area around the kidneys of cows and sheep. Many supermarkets will give you “suet” that really isn’t suet, but fat from other parts of the beast, for feeding birds. Make sure you let your butcher know what you’re using it for so you get the appropriate version.

Suet is used primarily in steamed puddings. Because it has a higher melting point than butter (see below), it creates a very different texture in a finished pudding than will butter. If you try to substitute butter for suet, once it’s in the oven, it will melt before the pudding has a chance to “set” which results in something quite heavy and “greasy.” Suet doesn’t melt until the batter has begun to set so as it melts into its surroundings, it leaves tiny holes that make the pudding light. If you feel you just can’t use suet, vegetable shortening with its similar melting point is the best substitution. It will definitely change the flavor and character however.

Vegetable shortening

Vegetable shortening is made from vegetable oils and is thus 100% fat. To make this fat solid at room temperature, these oils have been “hydrogenated,” chemically treated to change some of their polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids. This also gives it baking qualities necessary for many recipes as well as to prolong its shelf life. Unfortunately, hydrogenating the vegetable oils transforms something that was nutritionally a “good” fat into one that’s not.

And shortening does make pie crusts that are almost as flakey as those made with lard. In a pie crust dough in which the pieces of fat are layered into the flour, shortening serves as a buffer between flour and any liquid that is added to hold it all together. As the crust bakes, the water turns to steam, forcing the flour/shortening layers apart and holds them apart until it melts, by which time the crust is set. This produces the classic tender, flaky piecrust.

High-sugar cookies tend to spread as they bake; but if you use shortening rather than butter, its higher melting point will force the cookies to keep their structure long enough for the other ingredients to set, thus preventing spreading.

The liquid fats

These are oils that come primarily from plants: seeds, nuts and vegetables. They all contain the same amount of total fat per tablespoon. But they vary greatly in percentage of saturated fat, with coconut oil checking in at 92 percent saturated fat, while canola oil contains only 7.6 percent saturated fat. Choose an oil that has a high percentage of polyunsaturated and/or monounsaturated fats (olive oil is the highest in monounsaturated fat, but its flavor usually isn’t suitable for baking, except in the case of bread). They are used in baking where you don’t need to “cream” or beat air into a fat. They moisten, tenderize and help retain freshness. Liquid fats won’t provide any structure in your cookie, cake or pie; but it does a good job “shortening” gluten strands, so it’s fine for enhancing the texture of sandwich breads, muffins, quick breads, or other baked goods that don’t depend on solid shortening for their structure. The type of oil best suited for most baking should have a light and unobtrusive flavor. Stronger flavored oils, such as extra-virgin olive, peanut or sesame are best used for other purposes. It’s important to store them in an airtight container where it’s dark and cool place to prevent rancidity.

Melting points & smoke points

Knowing the points at which a fat becomes liquid and when it will begin to smoke as you heat it on the stove are of value in deciding what types of fat are best for any given purpose. Listed below are some of the fats you will most likely be using in baking and, where appropriate, their melting points and their smoke points. The melting points of most oils are not present as they are liquid at room temperature. And the smoke points of those fats you would not use for high heat cooking are also not included. The presence of salt lowers the melting point of both butter and margarine.

Melting Points and Smoke Points of Fats

	Smoke Point	Melting Point
Butter	up to 350°F	98.6°F
Clarified butter	350°F to 365°F
Margarine	356°F – 370°F	94°F t0 98°F
Lard	360°F to 375°F	95°F to 113°F
Suet	115°F to 122°F
Vegetable shortening	325°F - 375°F	115°F - 119°F
Cocoa butter	96.8°F
Canola oil	460°F
Corn oil	450° to 460°FF
Olive oil	375°F to 400°F	32°F
Peanut oil	440°F to 450°F	28°F
Safflower oil	510°F
Sesame oil	420°F

It’s fairly clear that animal fats and those that are solid at room temperature have much lower smoke points and are mostly not appropriate for frying doughnuts. But as most general rules in the kitchen have anomalies, you’ll find a lot of old-time doughnut makers who wouldn’t use anything but lard for frying doughnuts, in spite of its low smoke point. Fresh lard produces a flavor all its own, and, if it is truly fresh, and you keep the temperature of the fat where it should be, very compelling. (These are also the people who wouldn’t use anything but lard for making piecrusts; and they have a point. There isn’t anything that can approach a piecrust made with lard for flakiness and tenderness. That’s because, when lard cools, it solidifies into very large crystals, which accentuates the flakiness of a piecrust.)

The reason fats are an efficient cooking medium is that they can be heated to a much higher temperature than water. When it’s at the right temperature, a dough will sear and become crisp, which prevents it from absorbing all of the fat. Some fats are better than others for this, based on their “smoke points.” Just as fats become liquid at different temperatures (melting points), the point at which they begin to break down and begin to smoke also differs. Since most doughnuts need to be cooked at about 365°F*, knowing the smoke points of various fats and/or oils can be useful. Here are a few.

There are some things that will lower the smoke point of fats. Oxidation is the first. As soon as fat or oil is exposed to air, it begins to “oxidize,” or break down. At room temperature, this happens very slowly. As soon as you begin to heat a fat, oxidation accelerates, so preheat your oil for as short a time as possible.

Because it is the oxygen in the air that is the culprit, a taller rather than a wider pot is a better choice for deep frying. That means less of the oil is exposed at the surface. Here’s one more consideration. The iron in a cast iron kettle will also speed up oxidation unless it’s well seasoned. An optimal choice would be a fairly tall, stainless-steel pot as stainless steel is non-reactive and won’t act as an oxidation catalyst. This doesn’t mean you can’t use others. They’ll do fine; don’t let the lack of a stainless steel pot discourage you from this adventure. You just may need to change your fat or oil a little more frequently. And if you’re making doughnuts just once a year, it won’t make any difference anyway!

Once you start cooking and begin to “contaminate” the fat with foreign material, its smoke point is also lowered. A fat or oil can be used more than once, 5 or 6 times if you keep it clean. Strain it through cheesecloth or a clean dishtowel to remove as much foreign matter as possible each time you use it. Once the fat has darkened, it has oxidized to the point where it will begin to give your doughnuts an “off” flavor. Then it’s a good time to start fresh. Oils that are predominately polyunsaturated or are unrefined and cold-pressed are not good choices for deep frying as excessive heating deteriorates them rather quickly.

The best way to keep track of the temperature of the fat or oil in your pot is with an appropriate thermometer. The easiest type to read is an alcohol thermometer with a long, clearly marked rectangular scale rather than an expansion thermometer with a round dial. Either kind comes with a clip to hold it on the side of your pot. If you have enough fat or oil in your pot, at least 3 to 4 inches deep, it will take a minimum of adjustment to keep it at a fairly stable temperature. That’s the key to making doughnuts that are crisp without being greasy.

Flash Points

There are two other temperatures that are fairly consistent for all these fats and oils that you should know about before you embark upon deep-fat frying. Most fats and oils will reach a “flash point” at about 600°F. This means you’ll see little flamelets jump from the surface, not a good sign. Beyond this is the “fire point,” or the temperature at which the fat will ignite and begin to blaze. This happens just shy of 700°F for most fats. Most thermometers won’t approach these temperatures, so your cue for the time to be concerned is when the fat begins to smoke, at the smoke points listed in the previous column.

How do Deal with a Flaming Fat: Should you ever run into a situation where, for whatever reason, you wind up with flaming fat or oil, cover your pan to shut off the supply of oxygen. Don’t ever try to put it out with water. Water will just splash flames all over the place and make a bad situation worse. If things do get that bad, use baking soda to extinguish the flames. In fact, it’s a good idea to keep a box at hand when you’re deep-fat frying. The chance that you’ll need it is remote if you’re careful. If you have a fire extinguisher in the house and know how to use it, that’s even better. Many people have them but have never gone through a fire drill with them so aren’t going to know what to do if they’re in a panic. End sidebar

Faux Fats

Cutting Down on Fat

We think the best way to cut down on fat in baking is simply to cut down on it. If a recipe calls for 1/2 cup vegetable oil, try it with 1/4 cup and see if you can tell the difference. You may also easily substitute low-fat ingredients for high-fat in many cases, such as using skim milk in place of whole, or low-fat yogurt in place of sour cream. Then there are “faux fats” (below) that can be used in conjunction with real fats. You probably don’t want to replace all the fat called for with one of these, but again, experiment and find a compromise that works for you.

There are a number of these on the market based on different concepts. Some are based on protein, some are carbohydrate based, some are fat based and some are fruit based. An overview can be found at the following web site: FAT REPLACERS

We’ve had experience with all of the following. And we tend to use them only as partial replacements for whatever fat is called for in a recipe.

Beta-Trim™

We’ve had a long history with this particular fat replacer. Originally known at OatTrim, this is a hydrolyzed oat flour, which is a carbohydrate-based product. Beta-Trim™ is a water-soluble form of enzyme-treated oat flour containing beta-glucan soluble fiber and is used as a fat replacer, bodying and texturizing ingredient. By replacing half the fat in a recipe with this, you can produce a fairly respectable result.

Fruit puree-Fat Replacements

You won’t be able to produce a crisp cookie with a fruit puree. And because fat carries flavors in baking, a fruit-purée just isn’t going to help here either. Sunkist makes a product that includes a mix of puréed plum and apple as well as pectin to thicken it and some sweeteners. It’s essentially a jam but can be used in place of an equal amount of fat in some baked goods. There is also Fruit Sweet®, a blend of pear and unsweetened pineapple and peach syrups which is used mostly as a sugar substitute although the company claims that you can use less fat when baking with it because it’s so rich tasting and the sugars help retain moisture in the finished good. They suggest adding half as much puree as the amount of fat called for (so 1/2 cup of puree instead of 1 cup of oil). And we suggest eliminating or substituting for only half the fat so you don’t lose all its positive properties.

Lecithin: Lecithin (phospholipid, as it’s known in scientific circles) is a fatty substance naturally found in soybeans, egg yolks and wheat. It’s a very good emulsifier, meaning it’s expert at bringing together disparate ingredients in a recipe. In its granular form, lecithin contains about 4 grams of fat per tablespoon. In liquid form, it’s extremely sticky and very hard to wash off measuring utensils; spraying the measuring spoon or cup with a non-stick baking spray is helpful. (We prefer using granular lecithin for convenience’s sake.) Granular lecithin is not water-soluble, but it is dispersible. Mixing lecithin with liquids or oil before adding to dough ingredients helps it to mix in uniformly.

In baking bread, lecithin may be used in place of fat in recipes calling for 1 to 2 tablespoons of fat per 3 to 4 cups of flour. The lecithin will help the bread stay soft and tender. In recipes calling for large amounts of fat, substituting 1 or 2 tablespoons of lecithin for an equal amount of fat is fine; you can’t, however, use a cup of lecithin in place of a cup of butter -- the texture and taste of the final product will suffer.

So when can you substitute lecithin for fat, and how much? In places where it’s used for its softening effect, e.g., when just a couple or so tablespoons of fat are called for in the recipe, use either fat or lecithin. If, as in the case of brioche or cake, the fat is a major structure builder, lecithin can be used in addition to the fat, but not in place of it. Using a small amount of lecithin along with the called-for fat in bread and cake recipes will give breads and cakes finer texture, and their crusts will stay softer.

Large manufacturers use lecithin to help control shrinkage in piecrusts and pizza dough. It’s often added to commercially made waffles to help them release from the waffle iron, and to increase the crispness of the waffle. Feel free to experiment within the parameters here, and see if you notice a difference in your baked goods.

Weighty Conclusions

There’s a lot of magic in fat. Animals have it. Plants have it. It’s the most efficient container of calories (that measure of those fuels that allow us to live) in nature’s emporium of nutrients. For human beings, at the dawn of civilization, fat in our bodies was a storage of fuel that helped us to seek yet more fuel, and it was a hedge against hard times. On our bodies it kept us warm. But now in the age of easy access to fat calories, and over indulgence in the same, the magic has paled a bit….as does the value of anything when available in excess. But fat still has a critical place in our diets; we just need to know how to use it. And, in most baked goods, it’s invaluable. The venerable baguette is perhaps the most obvious of exceptions. But even then, we tend to anoint it with some kind of fat when we eat it.

At any rate, in baked goods, where it’s appropriate, solid fats can be persuaded to contain a lot of air to lighten, it can be a buffer to tenderize, it can be incorporated in small or large sheets to create flakiness; it moisturizes; it crisps. All fats can contain more heat than water and is thus an efficient cooking medium. Some fats add flavor components of their own. And some just provide the “assist” for other flavors. Unfortunately, the English word for “fat” is difficult. It doesn’t roll off the tongue easily; it stops dead and just sits there right in the middle of the mouth. Perhaps if we could use the French (grasse) or Italian (grasso), it would flow more easily and allow us to live with it more comfortably as they seem to do.