On Jul 20, 10:13�pm, Sqwertz > wrote:
> Goomba > wrote:
> > Hugh wrote:
>
> >> Butter for puff pastry is certainly the classic ingredient. Have any of you
> >> tried butter substitutes, like the produce we use named "I can't believe
> >> it's not butter"?
>
> > I didn't think one was supposed to bake with those fake spreads? I doubt
> > you'd have much success, y'know?
>
> Look at the oil content. �Some of those spreads have more water than
> they do oil. �They aren't even good for saut�ing or making grilled
> cheese sandwiches. �"Margarine", OTOH, is always guaranteed to have
> 80% vegetable oil, at least. �And it doesn't cost much more than
> those "spreads".
>
> -sw

Even margarine won't work in puff pastry, or any laminated dough for
that matter, unless it's baker's margarine. Regular margarine melts
at too low a temperature and when it does melt it's thinner than
melted butter. Butter has more saturated fat and is more solid at
room temperature compared to margarine. Therefore it melts at a
higher temperature. It's also thicker when it's melted because it
contains milk solids.

I was in high school the first time I tried making croissants. I used
margarine instead of butter. Within minutes of placing them in the
oven the margarine in them had all melted and oozed out of the
croissants on to the baking sheet. The baking sheet overflowed and
the margarine ran out and dripped all over the bottom of the oven. It
was quite a mess. My croissants ended up be more like dinner rolls
instead of croissants. The next time I made them I used butter and it
made all the difference in the world. Despite the fact that I had
used two and a half sticks of butter to make 16 croissants, not a
single drop of butter leaked out of the croissants when they were
baked.