SC - Shortbread help, please

[Decker, Terry D.]

I woke up early this morning, so I had time to bake a batch of
shortbread, which I have now foisted off on the poor dieters at the
office.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2    cups flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Cream the butter and sugar.
Mix the salt and flour, add to the butter and sugar.  Knead together
until the dough forms a ball.
Press into 8 x 8 baking pan.
Bake in preheated oven, 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.

I let the butter stand on the counter for about 20 minutes to get the
chill off, but retain solidity.  The butter was cut into approx. 1/2
Tablespoon pats and mashed into the sugar with a fork.

I worked the dough by hand until the loose ingredients formed a lump,
which resembled light brown modeling clay.  If you use mechanical
blending, don't overwork the dough.

There is enough fat in the recipe that the Pyrex bake pan did not need
greasing.

Recipe was assembled immediately before baking and removed from the oven
immediately.  Cooled in the pan approximately 20 minutes, before cutting
and stacking on a plate.

Were I to make this recipe with a vegetable oil rather than butter, I
would experiment with a solid shortening like Crisco.  I do not like
margarine for cooking, as the oils do some odd things at high
temperature.

The fat/other ingredients ratio appears to be close to the point where
more fat will make the end product oily.

Opinion here:
The fat is serving as the liquid and the binding agent, softening the
flour and making the grains of sugar and flour stick together.  The fat
coating the grains of flour reduces the cohesiveness of the gluten,
which keeps the shortbread soft and crumbly as opposed to doughy.
During baking the fat melts and makes a matrix around the grains of the
other ingredients, the sugar becomes liquid and mixes with the fat.
Removed from the oven, the dough is very soft and crumbly.  As it cools,
the fat congeals and the sugar recrystalizes.  The shortbread sets up
like a soft concrete with rebar.  It is crumbly, but it will hold shape
if you don't mistreat it.

Most cookies use a higher percentage of sugar to fat, which helps keep
them from crumbling.  Commercial shortbreads are probably closer to
cookies, than they are to the above recipe, since they must withstand
shipping.

Under-baking does not properly blend the ingredients, leaving the
product doughy.  Over-baking removes moisture from the fat and very
probably changes the chemistry of the fats and sugars.

Think of the scholarly possibilities, On the Tensile Strength of Cookies
or Chemical Alterations in Triticum-based Products at Excessive
Temperatures.  Why a person might even get the Golden Fleece Award for
their efforts.
End opinion.

This was a fun exercise and I hope the results will be useful.

Bear
  
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