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Butter vs shortening in pie crust

Butter vs shortening in pie crust

By: RedmanShop | February 7, 2025

Pie crust — gotta love it, right?

Flaky and tender when you nail it, tough as rawhide when you don’t, pie crust divides all of us bakers into definitive categories: those who succeed; those who fail, but keep trying; and those who buy Mrs. Smith’s.

Why is pie crust so tough — often literally? Well, it’s all about the fat, the water, and the flour. Three simple ingredients that, together, can create a masterpiece — or mayhem.

Butter vs. shortening in pie crust: the flour

Flour does make a difference, but not as much as you might think. A lower-protein pastry flour will inherently make a more tender crust (and will also be a bit more fragile when you’re rolling it out).

Truthfully, I use our all-purpose flour in my pie crust; I have to be careful not to work it too hard once the water is added (for fear of developing its gluten), but for me, it offers an ideal blend of good results and ease of handling.

The liquid

Make it ice water. Simple enough, right? Sure, you can use milk, add an egg, and try other types of liquid, but water produces reliably good results — so why not? Ah, now comes the ingredient that arguably makes or breaks a pie crust, and also creates the most debate:

The Fat

Your grandma used lard. Your mom used shortening. You use butter. Are all fats created equal?

I decided to find out.

First thing I did was rule out lard. NOT BECAUSE IT’S NOT A PERFECTLY GOOD FAT AND CAPABLE OF MAKING WONDROUSLY TASTY PIE CRUST. After all, our ancestors made lard-crust pies for centuries and, like lard-fried doughnuts, they were delicious.

I’m ruling out lard simply because good, fresh lard isn’t as universally available as shortening and butter. So if you love lard, and have a good supplier – stick with it.

But if butter and vegetable shortening are your choices, read on.

For years, I’ve alternated between two favorite recipes: Gluten-Free Crustless Pumpkin Pie, a crust made with both shortening and butter; and All-Butter Pie Crust.

One Thanksgiving I’d go with an all-butter crust for my Cranberry Hand Pies​; the next, I’d make my Easy Fall Mini Pies with the shortening/butter clone.

But never had I made both crusts in tandem, and done a side-by-side comparison. Which was flakier? Which tasted better?

Butter makes a lighter crust

I made an amazing discovery (amazing to me; we pie geeks are easily amazed): something I’d always believed to be true was absolutely, categorically, without a doubt not true at all.

I’d always told people that a shortening/butter pie crust would have better texture than an all-butter crust, due to shortening’s higher melting point. Why?

Fat keeps the layers of flour/water “matrix” separated as the pie bakes; the longer fat is present in its solid form (score one for shortening, with its high melting point), the more flakes will form, the more tender/flakier the crust will be.

Now, that may be true. I didn’t actually count the number of flaky layers in each crust.

But one thing was abundantly clear: the all-butter crust (above left) made a lighter crust, with more defined flakes than the butter/shortening combination (above right).

I was totally puzzled until it dawned on me: butter contains more water than shortening.

As the crust bakes, that water is converted to steam, puffing up the crust (and its flakes) like someone blowing up a balloon.

Each fat adds its own distinct flavor

And flavor? The all-butter crust tasted — well, buttery, of course. The butter/shortening crust (which was, by the way, just as tender and flaky as the butter crust, but without its light texture) tasted a bit like butter, and a bit like pie crust — that indefinable something that tells your taste buds, yes, I’m eating a piece of pie.

Both were good — just different. And one of the chief differences was looks: the butter crust produced a very ill-defined edge. My careful fluting basically went up in smoke (er, steam).

So if you’re after looks, stick with the butter/shortening combination (or all shortening). If looks don’t matter to you, I’d go with the all-butter crust.

What about substituting vodka for water?

While I was at it, I decided to test the famous Cook’s Illustrated secret to tender, flaky pie crust: using vodka in place of half the water in the crust.

The theory is that vodka, being alcohol rather than water, will develop flour’s gluten less than plain water, thus creating a more tender crust.

The verdict? I couldn’t discern any difference in the flakiness/tenderness of the vodka vs. non-vodka crusts.

But the vodka crust rolled out more easily; with its silken, smooth texture, it was a pleasure to work with.

So would I add vodka to pie crust? Sure. I think I’ll even keep a little bottle in the fridge, so it’s handy for pie crust or a gimlet — whichever comes first!

OK, I’ve given you a map. And here you stand at the crossroads, ready to make a decision on the butter vs. shortening in pie crust debate.

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How to make the best pie crust

How to make the best pie crust

By: RedmanShop | February 7, 2025

Four critical ingredients and a few key techniques.

Do you suffer from pie crust phobia? If so, you’re not alone; plenty of otherwise confident bakers find themselves furtively hustling a ready-made crust out of the supermarket freezer case into their shopping cart. But life doesn’t have to be that way; you can make the best pie crust ever by following these simple steps:

  1. Choose a good recipe
  2. Start with the right ingredients
  3. Learn a few basic techniques

What I want to emphasize here is the importance of your ingredients: specifically flour, salt, fat, and liquid. Choosing those four ingredients wisely will lead to consistently great pie crust.

1. Flour: It’s all about protein

What kind of flour makes the best pie crust? Well, not high-protein bread flour! Use that for your chewy bagels. What you want for pie is flour that yields a tender, flaky crust, which means medium-protein all-purpose flour or low-protein pastry flour.

What does protein have to do with it?

When you add water to flour some of its protein turns into gluten, an elastic substance that gives baked goods the structure they need to hold together (and to rise when appropriate). The higher the protein level, the stronger the structure.

Strong structure in yeast bread translates to high-rising; but in pie crust, strong structure can be perceived as tough — the last attribute you want applied to your apple pie. So stick to flour with a medium-to-low percentage of protein, which means all-purpose flour (11.7% protein), pastry flour blend (10.3%), or pastry flour (8.0%).

Does the flour with the lowest protein make the best pie crust?

Not necessarily. Yes, you can make tender, flaky pie crust with pastry flour. But it can be a bit of a challenge, particularly for those uncertain of their pie crust skills. Pastry flour pie crust is harder to roll without cracking, and it can split apart at the seams while the pie is baking.

That’s why I choose all-purpose flour for my pie crust. The dough is easier to roll out and move around and, despite its slightly higher protein, the crust is wonderfully flaky. In my book, the ease of an all-purpose flour crust trumps the marginal added tenderness of a pastry flour crust.

2. Salt: Critical for flavour

Salt adds flavor to pie crust. Leave out the salt and, unless you’re used to following a salt-free diet, the crust will taste like cardboard.

I find that when using unsalted butter and/or shortening in your crust, about 1/2 teaspoon salt per cup of flour is just perfect. If you’re using salted butter, reduce the amount of added salt in your crust by 1/4 teaspoon for each 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) of butter in the recipe.

Since pie crust dough has very little liquid, choose table salt or fine salt. Their finer crystals will disperse more evenly throughout the dough despite the lack of water to dissolve them.

3. Fat: Choose your favourite

Some people love lard in pie crust. Others use liquid vegetable oil. There are those who swear by their grandma’s Crisco crust — and other bakers who eschew solid vegetable shortening for health reasons. Many people love an all-butter crust. And then there’s coconut oil … So many choices!

Butter is a major flavor enhancer, but its low melting point can be an issue. Shortening, with its higher melting point, adds stability to a baking pie crust.

If you have trouble with your crust slipping down the sides of the pan, or if your carefully fashioned crimp around the edge melts and puddles, blame butter. A combination of butter and shortening yields the best qualities of each: flavor and baking stability.

4. Liquid: The ultimate key to texture

As mentioned before, liquid + the protein in flour = gluten. And once that gluten forms, working it — by mixing the pie crust dough, then rolling it out — increases gluten’s strength and decreases the resulting crust’s tenderness.

The best pie crust is a perfect balance between fat, flour, and liquid. Too much fat and the crust may taste greasy and crumble as it bakes. Too much liquid can create extra gluten, leading to tough, chewy crust.

But strike just the right balance — sufficient fat for tenderness without greasiness, and just enough liquid to hold everything together — and you’ve struck pie crust gold.

Water, milk … vodka?

Some bakers use milk or buttermilk in their pie crust. Thanks to their milk solids, both will help crust brown and add a bit of tenderness. But the classic liquid in pie crust is water — ice water, to be precise.

Why ice water? Ice water keeps the bits of fat in the dough cold and intact (rather than melted and dispersed). This creates little pockets of fat that, as the pie bakes, gradually melt and form tiny caverns in the crust — which we describe as flakiness.

Vodka in pie crust has been a popular substitute for ice water in recent years. Why? It’s said that its lower percentage of water (alcohol is part water, part ethanol) means less gluten development, yielding a more tender crust.

In my experience this is partially true; using vodka in pie crust makes a soft, silky dough that’s lovely to roll out. But the resulting crust isn’t any more tender or flaky than an ice-water crust.

And crust whose liquid is 100% vodka can border on being too tender, since less of its gluten has been activated. An all-vodka crust (especially one made with higher-proof vodka) can occasionally fall apart as you move it from countertop to pie pan.

“Add just enough liquid.” What’s just enough?

Less is more: The less liquid you add to pie crust dough (within reason), the more tender it will be.

When the vodka is thoroughly dispersed, I dribble in ice water just until the dough starts to come together. And I mean just enough water. Watch carefully as you stir; when the dough starts to clump, and you grab a handful and squeeze it and it doesn’t crumble into pieces, stop adding water.

Gather the dough into a ball. Divide it in half, and flatten each half into a hockey puck-like disk. That’s it. You’re done. You’ve just made the best pie crust for Cranberry Hand Pies, Gluten-Free Crustless Pumpkin Pie, Easy Fall Mini Pies.

How to make the best pie crust: your takeaways

  1. Use a reliable recipe.
  2. Choose all-purpose flour or pastry flour.
  3. Don’t skip or reduce the salt; it’s critical for flavor.
  4. Various types of fat work well; choose your favorite.
  5. Add just enough liquid to hold the dough together.
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Wheat Flour

Wheat Flour

Flour Categories

Flour comes in four categories to cover a variety of bakery products. The Flour classification  refers to its protein level. The protein content is determined by the wheat strain planted by the farmer and the subsequent climatic conditions during growing.

Wholemeal Flour

Protein average: 12% – 14%

High Protein Bread Flour

Protein average: 12% – 14%

Medium Protein Plain Flour

Protein average: 10% – 12% 

Low Protein Cake Flour

Protein average: 7% – 9%

Rye Flour

Protein average: 8% – 15%

Types: Dark Rye, Light Rye

Specialty Flour

Protein average: 12% – 14%

Suitable for Bread, Buns, Pastry, Cakes and Cookies. It can be  used alone but mainly in conjunction with other flour types as a  percentage of the total flour.

Suitable for all types of Bread, Buns and some Pastry.

Suitable for Bread, Pastry, Cakes and Cookies.

Suitable for all types of Cakes, Sponges Cookies and Muffins.  Cake flour can be chlorinated
(It denatures protein and increases absorption) or straight-stream unchlorinated cake flour.

Suitable for bread making on its own or blended with white flour.  The protein differs from wheat flour, containing only Gliadin, resulting in smaller, more compact breads.

Spelt, Einkorn, Kamut and Buckwheat are known as ancient grains. They can be used individually to make bread but are challenging to handle as doughs are sticky. You will blend these with white flour to make bread. Some speciality flours have a gluten-free label.

 

Flour Type and Availability

The protein content of the harvested wheat will finally determine its category and use. Flour is the base ingredient in a recipe, with each grade playing different roles across product ranges. A specific name often identifies flour types, e.g. all-purpose flour from the medium protein range; and self-rising flour, a medium protein flour containing baking powder.


Country generic names such as Hong Kong Flour are identified with certain dim sum products and are low protein flour. European Flours, very popular with Artisan bakers, use a different system which identifies the flour by its extraction rate, e.g., T45 (like plain flour), T55 (like bread flour), and T65 (high- end bread flour)


The extraction rate relates to the flour obtained from the milling process. Flour with a high number after the T means the flour has a high bran content (minerals) from the milling process.

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Putting your sourdough starter on hold

Putting your sourdough starter on hold

By: RedmanShop | January 28, 2025

For best long-term storage, dry it

Sourdough baking is endlessly fascinating, isn’t it?

First-time sourdough bakers, excited by the starter they’ve created, happily explore the huge realm of possibilities for its use. 

More seasoned sourdough aficionados, having mastered the basics, work at fine-tuning techniques, learning to use fermentation temperatures to bring out (or tone down) certain flavors in sourdough’s rich, multilayered profile.

But one thing most of us have in common: at some point, we need to put our sourdough baking on hold. Maybe we’re going on vacation; perhaps the schedule is just too crowded at the moment for the ritual feeding/discarding/feeding/baking process.

Whatever the reason, there comes a time when we need to put our sourdough starter to bed for awhile.

What’s the best way to keep your starter happy, healthy, and vibrant, when you know you won’t be using it for an extended period?

Refrigerate it and hope? Freeze it and forget it?

Neither of the above. The best way to preserve your starter – for a couple of weeks, a month, or even years – is to dry it.

Let’s see how the process works.

1. Ready your sourdough starter for storage.

First, feed your starter as though you were going to bake with it. If it’s been stored in the fridge, take it out, and feed it with equal parts unbleached all-purpose flour and lukewarm water. Let it rest, covered, until it becomes very bubbly and healthy looking.

2. Spread it out to dry.

Next, spread it – all of it* – onto two pieces of parchment. It helps to set each piece of parchment on a baking sheet, simply for ease of transportation.

*Don’t want to dry all of it? See the end of this post for advice.

The starter should be spread as thinly as possible; use a spatula, an offset spatula, or a bowl scraper to help the process along.

3. Dry the starter completely, until it’s brittle.

Let the starter dry at room temperature until it’s completely and utterly dry. This will take a day (if you live, say, in Arizona, in a house without air conditioning); or up to three, four, five days – it totally depends on the weather. In Seattle, in winter? Count on a long dry.

If you live somewhere humid, can you dry your starter in the oven? Yes; but be careful. Rather than turning the oven on to warm it, I’d advise using only your oven’s electric light, which will produce very gentle, even heat. You don’t want to risk turning the oven on and accidentally making it too hot, which would kill your starter. (See step #8, below.)

Completely dry starter should peel easily off the parchment; when you pick a piece up, it will be brittle and easily snap between your fingers. If you have a scale, weigh it; if you started with 4 ounces starter on your parchment, it should weigh 2 ounces (or very close) when it’s completely dry.

4. Break it into pieces.

Break the starter into small chips with your hands; or place it in a plastic bag and pulverize it with something heavy.

Can you run it through a food processor? Yes, but it’s not necessary; just break it into chips as best you can.

5. Store it airtight.

Store the starter airtight, preferably in a glass container. You want something totally inert, with an airtight cover; a glass jar is perfect. Date the jar and label it; you don’t want someone throwing it away during the course of some pantry spring cleaning.

Keep the jar of dried starter in a cool, dark place, if possible. Not cool as in refrigerator; just not sitting in the hot sun, or over your woodstove. Be sensible.

6. Bring your sourdough starter back to life.

When you’re ready to revive the starter, measure out 1 ounce (or about 1/8 of it, if you’d been following a regular feeding pattern and had about 8 ounces starter on hand at the beginning of the drying process).

Don’t have a scale? Well, depending on the size of your chips, this will be between 1/4 and 1/3 cup.

7. Mix the starter with lukewarm water.

Place the dried starter chips in a large (at least 1-pint) container. Add 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of lukewarm water. The water should barely cover the chips; tamp them down, if necessary.

Stir the chips/water occasionally; it’ll take 3 hours or so, with infrequent attention, to dissolve the chips.

8. Feed it with flour.

Once the mixture is fairly smooth/liquid, with perhaps just a couple of small undissolved chips, feed it with 1 ounce (about 1/4 cup) of unbleached all-purpose flour. Cover it lightly (a shower cap works well here), and place it somewhere warm.

I like to use my electric oven with the light turned on. Even without ever turning on the heat, it holds a constant temperature between 85°F and 90°F.

You can certainly keep your starter out of the oven, at room temperature; just understand that this whole process, as I’ll describe it, will take longer. The cooler the room, the longer it takes sourdough starter to work.

9. Let it rest somewhere warm until it bubbles.

Let the starter work for 24 hours. At the end of that time, you should see some bubbles starting to form. Remember, this is at about 85°F; if your temperature is lower, this will take longer.

How much longer? Totally depends on temperature. Once you do this process once – in your kitchen, in your climate, accounting for your weather – you’ll have a better idea.

Sourdough isn’t one of those things you can be all engineering about. Forget your timer; just wait until your starter looks like the picture above.

10. Feed the starter again.

WITHOUT DISCARDING ANY OF THE STARTER, feed it with 1 ounce of lukewarm water, and 1 ounce of flour. Cover, and put back in its warm spot. After “X” hours (depends on your kitchen), you should see some serious bubbling; mine took eight hours to become nice and bubbly.

11. And again.

Feed the starter again – 1 ounce of lukewarm water, 1 ounce of flour – cover, and wait. Again, you’re not discarding any at this point.

Here’s my starter 12 hours later. It’s exhibiting a host of tiny bubbles, and has expanded. You may also notice, from the side of the container, that it’s risen, and then fallen; this is completely natural.

12. Put the starter back on its regular feeding schedule.

Your starter is ready to return to its former life – and its regular schedule. DISCARD all but 4 ounces (about 1/2 cup). Feed it again, this time with 4 ounces each lukewarm water and flour. (That’s 1/2 cup of water, and 1 cup of flour, for those of you without a scale. Tell me again why you don’t have a scale?)

This time, it should really expand quickly. In my 85°F oven, it took just 4 hours for it to triple in size. Your starter is now revived and healthy.

13. At last – you’re ready to bake!

To ready the starter for baking (while saving enough for another day), feed it again. Discard all but 4 ounces; and feed the remainder with 4 ounces each lukewarm water and flour. Let it become bubbly – and let the baking begin!

Finally, because I know you’ll ask –

Q. Do you have to dry all of your starter?

A. No. Store half in the fridge, if you like. Just don’t store any in the freezer; freezing will kill your starter (more on that in a future post).

Q. If you dried all of your starter, and you only revive 1 ounce of it – what do you do with the rest?

A. Give some to a friend (with a link to this blog post, of course). Or just save the rest for sometime in the future.

Q. How long will dried starter stay good?

A. Not sure, but we’ve heard cases of dried starter remaining viable for over a decade. Thorough drying should preserve your starter indefinitely – just ask King Tut!

Finally, I couldn’t possibly end this post without showing you what happened to my dried, revived, fed, and baked-with starter. This Extra-Tangy Sourdough Bread has NO commercial yeast; it was entirely leavened with my reconstituted starter. Success!

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How to measure flour the right way

How to measure flour the right way

By: RedmanShop | January 22, 2025

If you learn one skill to bake better, it should be how to measure flour — the right way. It’s arguably one of the biggest keys to baking success. That’s because a little too much flour can be the difference between a good bake and a not-so-good bake. And if you’re measuring your flour by volume (i.e., with measuring cups), then it’s very likely you’re adding too much flour.

That’s because measuring flour by volume is wildly inconsistent: It all depends on how densely the flour is packed into the cup. If the flour is more condensed, a cup can hold up to 160 grams of all-purpose flour. If you fluff, scoop, and level, as we recommend, a cup will hold around 120 grams. But if you weigh your flour with a scale? You’ll always get exactly 120 grams of all-purpose flour per cup, precisely as our Test Kitchen (or whoever developed your recipe) intends.

If you succeed in correctly measuring your flour, your baked goods are more likely to be successful, too. And while we recommend always using a scale, using measuring cups works too if you do it the right way. However you choose to measure your flour, here’s how to get it right.

With a scale, your measurements are always accurate.

How to measure flour with a kitchen scale

Hit the “Tare” button to make sure your scale is set to 0 grams. (All of our recipes include gram and volume measurements.) Set your measuring bowl, or a separate empty bowl, measuring cup, or other vessel (whatever you’ll be pouring your flour into) onto the scale, then press “Tare” again to set the scale to 0 grams. Scoop your flour into the vessel on the scale — if you’re measuring 1 cup of all-purpose flour, keep scooping until the scale totals 120 grams. Or measure out however much flour the recipe calls for. (Wondering about the weight of other flours and ingredients? Check out our handy ingredient weight chart.)

Generally, you can stay within 5 grams over or under the written amount (for instance, if the recipe calls for 240 grams of flour and you measured out 245 grams), and it won’t affect your recipe. With that said, we recommend being as accurate as possible when measuring flour and all other ingredients.

How to measure flour with measuring cups

If you don’t have a scale and need to measure flour by volume, it’s important to use the correct technique. Using our “Fluff, Sprinkle, and Scrape” technique is the best way to make sure you do not add too much flour to your recipes.

Begin by fluffing your flour in its bag or container using a spoon or scoop. The goal here is to lighten and aerate the flour. Spoon the fluffed flour into your measuring cup until it’s overflowing. Use a straight edge (like the back of a butter knife or a bench knife) to evenly level off the top so the flour is even with the top of the measuring cup.

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Bulk fermentation, explained

Bulk fermentation, explained

By: RedmanShop | January 22, 2025

Bulk fermentation (also called the first rise or primary fermentation) is one of the most important steps of yeast bread baking. It begins right when mixing ends and lasts until the dough is divided and preshaped. The name signifies exactly what it is: the step when the dough is fermenting in a large, single mass.

During this time, fermentation creates organic acids and carbon dioxide gases, each of which plays an important part in dough development. Organic acids are primarily what give the dough flavor and strength (acids help condition the gluten network) and carbon dioxide gives the dough volume and lightness.

While our friendly yeast and bacteria are doing most of this work, the dough still benefits from a periodic check-in by the baker. We help regulate dough temperature and strength through a series of folds, and these check-ins also give us an opportunity to assess how the dough is progressing.

Why stretch and fold?

Folding helps add strength to bread dough through a very simple series of actions: stretch the dough out and over itself. This act of stretching and folding, which takes just a few moments, helps develop the gluten network in the dough. Each fold has a significant impact on dough strength.

Through folding, we’re also helping to regulate dough temperature throughout the entire bulk mass. This ensures the dough’s temperature is relatively even throughout — no cool or warm spots at the top or bottom.

And finally, at each set, we have a chance to handle the dough and gain a firsthand assessment on how it’s developing: is the dough sluggish because it’s cool in the kitchen? This means we might need to extend bulk fermentation. Is it strong enough for preshaping or does it need another set of folds? By interacting with the dough in this way, we have an opportunity to answer these questions and adjust course as necessary.

When should I stretch and fold?

This process works best when you perform a quick series of folds and then let the dough rest. In the left-hand image below, you can see the dough bunched tightly in the center after performing a set of stretches and folds. In the right image, you can see it relaxed after a 30-minute rest, ready for another set of folds.

If you try to perform another set too soon, you’ll find the dough is too tight. It’ll be hard to stretch and may even tear. For most doughs, I find spacing out each set by 30 minutes (with the first set happening 30 minutes after the beginning of bulk fermentation) to be just right.

How to fold bread dough

There are many ways to fold bread dough, but my preference is to perform them directly in the bowl. First, get a small bowl filled with water and place it next to your bulk container. Dip your hands in the water before folding to prevent excessive sticking.

You will perform the same up-and-over motion four times, turning the bowl after each fold. As shown above, use two wet hands and grab the side of the dough farthest from you, then lift it up and over to the side nearest your body. Next, rotate your container 180°, wet your hands again if necessary, and perform the same stretch and fold. Next, rotate your container 90°. Grab the side of the dough farthest from you; once again stretch it up and over to the side of the container nearest your body. Rotate your bowl 180° and perform the same fold one final time.To finish the set, I like to gently pick the dough up in the center and let the ends fold under just a little. This helps keep the dough tidy in the middle.

When to end bulk fermentation?

Finding the exact point when to end bulk fermentation takes practice. With time, you’ll learn to read the signs of sufficient fermentation: dough strength, elasticity, smoothness, volume gain, and bubbly appearance.But making this call can be difficult. Cutting bulk fermentation short might mean your dough won’t be sufficiently fermented and you’ll head toward an under-proofed result. On the other hand, if you push bulk fermentation too far, your dough will be hard to handle and on the verge of over-proofing. There’s a balance to be found.Upper left: dough at the beginning of bulk fermentation. Upper right: dough before first stretch and fold. Lower left: dough before second stretch and fold. Lower right: dough at the end of bulk fermentation.

In the image above, see how it initially starts as a shaggy mass, but eventually rises significantly and becomes smooth, strong, and bubbly?At the end of bulk fermentation, I look for a dough that’s risen significantly and is much smoother than when bulk started. If you tug on the dough a little with a wet hand, you’ll feel resistance and elasticity.Additionally, look for liveliness. Gently shake the bowl and it’ll jiggle, letting you know there’s plenty of aeration in the dough. These are all great signs that the dough has fermented sufficiently and is strong enough to be divided.Strong fermentation, sufficient dough strength, ending bulk fermentation at the right time, and a full proof – these are all steps required for a wonderful loaf of bread. And as you develop a sense for how to execute on each of these, you’ll taste the difference in every bite.

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Cake flour vs. all-purpose flour: What’s the difference?

Cake flour vs. all-purpose flour: What’s the difference?

By: RedmanShop | January 13, 2025

“I want to make a recipe that calls for cake flour, but all I have is all-purpose flour. Can I substitute all-purpose for cake flour?”

If you’ve ever asked this question — to yourself or a friend — you’re not alone. Sometimes we just don’t have the flour a recipe calls for (and can’t bear another trip to the store), or maybe the store was out of stock. So how much does flour choice affect your baking?

The difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour

First, it helps to understand the difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour.

It all comes down to protein content. Every type of flour has a protein percentage, which reflects how much gluten-forming protein it contains. Because protein level correlates with gluten-forming potential, it’s helpful to think of it this way: the higher the protein content, the “stronger” the flour.

When making baked goods like bread, using a strong flour with high protein makes sense. The robust glutinous web that develops when the flour is combined with liquid results in bread with chewy, bouncy texture. But when making a cake, it’s the opposite: We want something with a soft, fine, and tender crumb. In order to get it, we want to discourage gluten development, and one way to do that is to choose a flour with a lower protein content (the other is to avoid overmixing, which further develops gluten, even if you are using cake flour).

Our unbleached cake flour has a protein content of 10%, while all-purpose flour has a protein content of 11.7%. The lower protein content in cake flour means it has less gluten-forming potential, making it better suited to cakes.

(And it’s not just for cake! Our Test Kitchen uses lower-protein cake flour to achieve a melt-in-your-mouth texture in cookies like these Fiori Thumbprint Meltaway Cookies, while these Lemon Sugar Crunch Buns include cake flour for a delicate crumb.)

How to substitute for cake flour

You can make your own cake flour substitute by combining all-purpose flour with a little bit of cornstarch. The cornstarch adds tenderness and lowers the overall protein content of the mixture to mimic that of cake flour.

How to make cake flour : Whisk together 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (105g) all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons (14g) cornstarch. Use in place of cake flour in a recipe, substituting by equal weight or volume.

Can I substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour?

While it’s usually fine to substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour, the opposite isn’t true. “For those bakers out there thinking ‘flour is flour’ — no, it’s really not!” says Molly. She explains, “Subbing cake flour 1:1 into a recipe that was developed for all-purpose flour might result in sunken cake or bars, or cookies that are too delicate or simply fall apart.” That’s because the lower protein content in cake flour may not develop enough gluten or structure to support a baked good meant to be made with all-purpose flour.

To live up to its name, Tender White Cake is made with cake flour.

Start baking with cake flour

Ready to bake great cake? Pick up a box of cake flour and make some of our favorite cake flour recipes:

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How to assemble and frost a layer cake

How to assemble and frost a layer cake

By: RedmanShop | January 12, 2025

Frosting a cake can be intimidating, but if you break it down step-by-step, there’s nothing to fear. The right tools and techniques will guide you, taking you from naked layers to a frosted beauty without breaking a sweat. The key is to take your time and embrace imperfection. You’ve got this.

Patience makes perfect. Take the time to chill or freeze your baked layers before assembling the cake. The layers will be less fragile, and you’ll have more control and better results with frosting. While they’re chilling, line your serving plate with 2″ to 3″ wide strips of parchment paper.

Trim any dome from the top of the first layer so the cake is flat, then flip it over and place it on your serving plate cut side down.

Pipe a rope of frosting around the outside edge of the cake layer. Refrigerate for 15 minutes so it will become firm. This “dam” keeps frosting or filling from bulging out the side of the finished cake. After the dam sets, fill the top of the layer.

Trim the next layer and place it cut side down over the first. Chill the cake again, if it isn’t cool to the touch.
Smear a very thin coat of frosting on the sides and top of the cake.

This is called the crumb coat. It’s fine if it looks messy, and crumbs are showing through. Refrigerate the cake until you can touch the crumb coat without leaving a fingerprint, 20 to 30 minutes.

Once the crumb coat is firm, cover the top and sides of the cake with a finish coat of frosting. Gently remove the parchment paper strips. Decorate and embellish to your heart’s content.

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A breakdown of all the different cake mixing methods

A breakdown of all the different cake mixing methods

By: RedmanShop | January 12, 2025

There are so many ways to mix up cake batter. Maybe you’ve always wondered why the many methods; maybe you never thought about it until now. But each technique is based on specific ingredients, and results in a different final product: from a light as air cake, to one that’s sturdy enough to hold up in wedding tiers.

Common ways you might see cake mixing methods written in a recipe:

  • “Cream the butter and sugar together.”
  • “Combine dry ingredients. Add butter and mix until it resembles sand.”
  • “Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir together.”

Which way is “best”?

Cake mixing methods

We’ve recently baked cakes using six of the top mixing methods. Read on to see just how different cake results can be, depending on the steps in which the batter is blended.

1) Blended

Cakes made with this method: Very moist; a great candidate for adding mix-ins.

Basically stir together and go, the blended method is the easiest of all cake-prep types. Blended cakes are typically made with oil rather than butter, since oil is much more easily incorporated with the rest of the ingredients. Blended cake batter tends to be more liquid than most; oftentimes the recipe will call to “pour” the batter into the pans, rather than scoop.

2) Creaming

Example: Lemon Bliss Cake Cakes made with this method: Sturdy, yet soft textured. Easy to slice and stack in layers; also ideal for Bundt pans. This cake mixing method is a classic, and the most common.

The creaming method starts with beating the butter and sugar together until they’re lightened in color and fluffy.

Eggs are beaten in one at a time.

The creaming method then adds the dry and liquid ingredients alternately to the butter mixture.

The usual method is a third of the flour, half the milk, a third of the flour, the remaining milk, and finally the remaining flour; it’s helpful to scrape the bowl midway through this process.

Adding flour and liquids alternately ensures all the liquid (usually milk) will be thoroughly absorbed into the batter. If there’s a high amount of butter or other fat in the batter, it’s hard to get the liquid totally mixed in; the alternating technique helps reduce the percentage of fat overall (by adding some flour first). It also facilitates the formation of gluten, which binds the batter together.

3) Foam

Example: Angel Food Cake

Cakes made with this method: Extremely light and airy. This high-rising, somewhat “resilient” cake slices best with a serrated knife or pronged angel food cutter. The leanest cake in the bunch, foam cakes contain little to no fat: i.e. no butter or shortening, and no egg yolks.

Like some sponge cakes, foam cakes contain no leavening, depending on air whipped into the egg whites for structure. The whites are whipped into stiff peaks, usually with cream of tartar added to help with stability and volume.

Flour is carefully folded in, leaving as much air in the batter as possible. Most choose to fold in the flour with a spatula, but we’ve found that using the whisk attachment (the one that just moments before whipped up those whites) incorporates it easily and gently.

4) Paste (also called reverse creamed)

Example: Golden Vanilla Cake

Cakes made with this method: Tighter textured, though still moist. A great candidate for tiers. The most sturdy of the cakes; slices with minimal crumbs. This moist and tender (yet sturdy) cake is an American favorite. Its slightly denser crumb makes it perfect for frosting as a layer cake. Making a cake using the paste method (also sometimes called “reverse creaming”) sounds complicated, but it’s actually one of the most simple techniques of the bunch.

Soft butter and room-temperature liquids are beaten into the dry ingredients until the texture is “sandy.” The butter-coated flour slows the formation of gluten (which starts once flour comes in contact with liquid), and results in a slightly more sturdy cake that still offers soft texture.

Once the batter reaches that crumbly, sand-like consistency, milk and any flavors are added. Then eggs are mixed in one by one. The batter, though pourable, is often thicker than other cake batters.

5) Sponge

Example: Chef Zeb’s Hot Milk Cake

Cakes made with this method: Light and airy, with soft texture. Tend to compress slightly when stacked over two layers high. Mildly sweet, sponge cakes are high-rising and light as air, with the perfect degree of moistness.

Sponge cakes can be made different ways. One way is beating egg yolks and sugar (or whole eggs and sugar) until a very thick foam-like batter is created. The batter is pale yellow in color, and falls off the beater in ribbons. Flour is then gently folded in. Another way is to whip the egg whites separately from the yolks until soft peaks form. The yolk/sugar mixture is beaten until light, flour is mixed in, and then egg whites are gently folded into that mixture. Either way the eggs are prepared, they provide leavening and loft for the sponge cake. This method dates back to before the widespread use of baking soda or powder, when trapped air was a cake’s only leavening.

The batter for sponge cake is very light, airy, and almost soup-like in consistency. Though it may be alarming, this is totally normal. It will bake up into the moist, delicious cake that we know as sponge.

6) Gluten-free

Example: Strawberry Almond Flour Cake

Gluten-free cakes can be made any number of ways and with great success, much like their wheat-y counterparts. As with all recipes, be sure to read the directions carefully before starting. All puns intended, these methods really take the cake. Each one will create a totally different finished baked good – all equally delicious. Tell us, which of these cake-mixing methods do you usually use?

Want to take a deeper dive into cake baking? See our complete guide to cake and cupcakes.

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Creaming butter and sugar: How to get it right

Creaming butter and sugar: How to get it right

By: RedmanShop | January 12, 2025

For many new bakers and a few veterans, too, cakes are some of the first baked goods we make on our own. We may start with a mix, but then when we realize how easy a cake can be, we branch out to from-scratch cakes and encounter a deceptively simple direction right off the bat: “Cream the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.”

Why we cream butter and sugar

In creaming the butter and sugar together, you are using the sugar to aerate the butter and fill it with bubbles that can capture the gasses released by your leavener (usually baking soda and/or baking powder). The more fine bubbles you have in your network, the lighter in texture your cakes will be and the finer the crumb. This is true for your muffins as well, while it makes your cookies light and crisp instead of hard and dense.

How to cream butter and sugar the right way

Just like Goldilocks, we can encounter a variety of issues when dealing with this phrase. Too hard, too soft, and just right. Just what does softened butter look like? Should it be melted? How long do you beat? Should I set my mixer to low or high? How do I know when it’s right?

What your butter should look like before creaming

Not too hard, not too soft — just right.

Your butter should be at room temperature before creaming. But what exactly does that mean? You should be able to press an indent into the butter with one finger, as if you were pressing it into clay. The butter should not be so warm that it’s greasy; it should still be slightly cool, with a bit of resistance when you press it.

The best way to get your butter to room temperature is to leave it out on the counter for a few hours. But if you need to get butter to room temperature quickly? We tested tons of different methods to determine the best one.

Creaming butter and sugar: How temperature makes a difference

Next, let’s explore what will happen if you cream your sugar with butter that’s too cold, too warm, and just right. Up first, butter that’s too cold.

If your butter is too cold and hard

Again, the main reason you want to cream butter and sugar is to use the sugar crystals to punch little holes in the butter and have those holes capture air. Butter that is too cold won’t expand very easily, and it’ll never capture much air. The result? Heavy and dense, the creamed butter will resemble a chunky, grainy spread that’s the consistency of natural peanut butter. There’s also little or no change in color. Properly creamed butter and sugar will be pale yellow in color, but not white (more on this later).

Sugar creamed with cold butter is chunky and dense.

If your butter is too warm and soft

If the butter is too soft or melted, the air bubbles will be created but then will collapse again. This causes a greasy, wet mixture that will result in heavy, soggy cakes. Any air bubbles you’ve managed to create will also be knocked out as soon as the eggs and flour are added. (As a side note, this is also what happens if you try to cream oil and sugar. Leave the oil for recipes that don’t call for the creaming method.)

Sugar creamed with warm or melted butter is grainy and greasy.

If your butter is just right

Now that we’ve seen both extremes, let’s check out the results when the butter is at the right temperature. The mixture is lightened in color, it’s visibly fluffy, and it’s not clinging to the sides of the bowl.

Sugar creamed with room temperature butter is pale and fluffy.

Let’s look at the three results side by side. Starting on the left: too cold and the mixture sits in a lump. Too warm, and the mixture spreads out and has an oily layer. Finally, properly creamed, the mixture sits up tall and has visible fluffy peaks.

From left to right: sugar creamed with cold butter, warm butter, and room temperature butter.

Besides looks, the feel of each mixture will be different as well. Under-creamed and your mix will feel like wet sand or damp cornmeal. Over-creamed, and your mix will have the feel of oil and sugar on your fingers, rather like a facial scrub. Your well-creamed mix will be moist and light and the sugar will be nearly dissolved. You’ll barely feel any grit when you rub it between your fingers.

The right mixing speed and duration for creaming

Of course, having correctly softened butter is just one part of the equation, albeit a big one. Mixing at too high or too low a speed and for too short or long a time will also wreak havoc with your creaming. With the advent of the more powerful stand mixers that we use today, gone are the days of having to whip the butter and sugar mixture on high speed for several minutes to achieve good results. Instead, a moderate speed (typically speed 3 to 4 on a stand mixer) for 2 to 3 minutes is sufficient to get the aeration you’re looking for, being sure to scrape the bowl halfway through.

Under-creamed butter and sugar

If you under-cream your butter and sugar mixture, it will remain dense, grainy, and dark in color:

Under-creamed butter and sugar

If you under-cream your butter and sugar mixture, it will remain dense, grainy, and dark in color.

Correctly creamed butter and sugar

Perfectly creamed butter and sugar should be light, fluffy, and pale in color (but not white).

Perfectly creamed butter and sugar

Perfectly creamed butter and sugar should be light, fluffy, and pale in color (but not white).

Over-creamed butter and sugar

If you beat too long and hard, the mixture will be over-creamed, becoming nearly white in color. Because it’s too aerated, it can result in dense, gummy streaks in your cake when baking.

Over-creamed butter and sugar.

Unfortunately, if the butter and sugar has gone this far there’s no going back. We hope you’ve found this information helpful. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, and we hope these photos and our video will help you achieve the cakes and bakes of your dreams.

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