Baking with cooking oil vs baking with butter!?

[kuda88]

When is it best to bake with cooking oil and when is it best to bake with butter?thanks

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Most recipes for baking (as opposed to cooking/frying/roasting) will require a solid fat such as butter or lard and as such need that solid fat for the final product such as a sponge cake. That does not mean an oil can not be used, and in fact I have come across 2 very good recipes (one a cake and the other for cookies) that use oil rather than butter or a solid fat, but they do have very different textures to what people are used to and expect.

I also think a lot of it is regional. In the Mediterranean for example, keeping something like butter not only solid but fresh, in the summer months would have been quite difficult. Here in the UK, in the winter it is not uncommon for oil to solidify in its bottle and have to be warmed up in order to get it out of the bottle (at least in my kitchen it is not uncommon)!

 

[kuda88]

I see, I tried making cinnamon rolls with cooking oil as per recipe I had found online. It was a disaster, the oil wouldn't mix with the dough at all (http://www.cakesandmore.in/2011/11/no-knead-soft-cinnamon-rolls-eggless.html) . Am guessing I messed up some step,maybe! That's why I wanted to know more on them.

Would you care to share the link to the cookies using cooking oil!?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

They are a Greek honey biscuit which are lovely and rather full of calories but the idea is there.

www.cookingbites.com/threads/melomakarona-greek-honey-cookies.3420/

But I can't help thinking the olive oil chocolate cake could be closer to what you need.

www.cookingbites.com/threads/chocolate-olive-oil-cake-wheat-free-dairy-free.3250/

Also is there any particular reason for you using oil target than butter or a vegan margarine? Just curious here that's all.

 

[Ella]

For baking I would say butter as it it the fat content that can help to bind. That's why they say butter and not margarine. What I do is use mainly butter and then top up the rest with a bit of oil to balance it out and it does work, but you have to be careful about the quantity used. I have used soya spreads before and they work, but still not as well as butter for the taste more than anything.

 

[GadgetGuy]

When it comes to baking cakes & cookies, the recipes usually & ALWAYS call for butter.
I can't skimp out on that. After all, who on earth would want to bake cakes or cookies without butter?!
If CHILD won't eat it, then an adult won't eat it either!!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

After all, who on earth would want to bake cakes or cookies without butter?!

Those of us who are allergic to it? Allergic as it is will kill me, not just give me an upset stomach.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Never knew that butter was allergenic!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I don't have any food allergies at all.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Never knew that butter was allergenic!

Yep, I'm severely allergic to all dairy products and derivatives to the point of having to even be careful with medication because dairy is often used as a cheap tablet filler even in capsules that go into inhalers, but mostly in tablets.

There are some people who are simply intolerant to lactose which just give them an upset stomach/intense bloating/abdominal cramps etc, sadly my allergy is anaphylactic shock to even small amounts of certain proteins found in all dairy products. It makes life "interesting" to say the least because people assume I mean I'm intolerant to lactose (a sugar found in some dairy sources, mostly cows) so everything has to be double checked constantly and if a manufacturer changes so much as the wrapper for their product, let alone says new recipe, improved flavour, everything has to be double checked and rechecked. Ironically food in western '1st world countries' is the worst.