Liquid gold, in the baking world, browned butter is the nutty, caramel-colored ingredient that’ll take all your bakes to the next level. This guide will teach you how to make delicious browned butter in no-time.
What is it, first of all?
Butter is composed of milk fats, water and milk solids. The average American butter contains 80% milkfat, 18% liquid, and 2% solids. European-style butters are required to contain 82% milk fat or higher, which means that they’ll ultimately have a lower water content. When you brown butter, you’re doing two things. First, you’re cooking off all the water. All that bubbling and fizzing that occurs when you’re making browned butter is the water cooking out and evaporating. Because European-style butter contains less water than American butter, it’ll typically cook a little quicker. And second, you’re browning the milk solids. The milk solids that have been browned are responsible for the golden color of browned butter and its nutty flavour.
THE TOOLS
The Pan: You’ll want to use a light-colored pan. The contrast
This will help you see the butter browning clearly.
The Stirrer – Swirling or stirring the pan with a silicone spatula
It is usually the best…
