[Sca-cooks] OOP Flavored Short Bread

[Nick Sasso]

-----Original Message-----
Bear commented:
<<< If you use butter to extract the saffron, when you finish, put
the melted
butter into the refrigerator to cool it down and solidify it.  Break
it up
and add it to the butter and sugar in the mixture. >>>

Okay, why are you re-solidifying the butter in the refrigerator? Is
this because otherwise it changes the texture? > > > > > > >

Solid/crystalized fats and liquid fats create different textures in the
finished product.  Solid fats creamed with sugar get cut up and sort of
ground into small pieces of fat by the grains of sugar.  You end up with a
somewhat suspension of sugar in the fat with a little bit of dissolving in
the water in the butter, if that is what you are using.  Melted fat gives
you more of a dissolved syrup sort of thing when mixed with the sugar . . .
a lot more of the sugar melts into the melted fat.

A similar difference happens with cold versus room temp solid fats.  Use
tempered fats rather than straight from the fridge.  The cold fat breaks up
rather than creaming, and baked goods are not as tender and leavened
products don't rise nearly as well, and have a much denser crumb.

niccolo difrancesco