Troubleshooting pound cake

[Norcalbaker59]

I was doing some baking today, a couple types of cookies. And boy does brand matter.

We are in another shut down so people have been panic buying again. They didn’t have my regular brand butter in stock, so I purchased a brand name butter, but a brand I’ve ever used. It has a lower butter fat content.

I baked biscotti and chocolate chip cookies.

The extra water in butter made the biscotti softer than it should be.

For the chocolate chip cookies I also used a different flour, King Arthur brand flour. I normally use Central Milling. The cookies were soggy in the center after 14 minutes—this with just a 48g dough ball.

I had to increase the oven temperature of 10°F and extend the bake time. I don’t mind mind putting a hard bake on a cookie. But the cookie turned out cakey. i’ve used the same ratios in my cookies forever. I’ve never had a cakey cookie.

In retrospect with the extra water in the butter, I should’ve taken out some egg white to reduce the overall water in the dough.

Speaking of eggs, always weigh your eggs. The eggs I purchased were labeled “large”. Normally for a batch of biscotti, 4 large eggs will be very close to 200g, averaging about 50g per egg. These large eggs were huge. They averaged just over 57g each. The extra 28g of egg is the equivalent of “1/2 an egg”. That extra 28g would change the baker’s percentages from 40% to 45%. That’s a significant difference.

 

[ShuBunny]

Leaving a note to say thanks!
Learning a lot from all the questions asked by Cahoot & from NorCalBaker59 answers.

 

[Cahoot]

I was doing some baking today, a couple types of cookies. And boy does brand matter.

We are in another shut down so people have been panic buying again. They didn’t have my regular brand butter in stock, so I purchased a brand name butter, but a brand I’ve ever used. It has a lower butter fat content.

I baked biscotti and chocolate chip cookies.

The extra water in butter made the biscotti softer than it should be.

For the chocolate chip cookies I also used a different flour, King Arthur brand flour. I normally use Central Milling. The cookies were soggy in the center after 14 minutes—this with just a 48g dough ball.

I had to increase the oven temperature of 10°F and extend the bake time. I don’t mind mind putting a hard bake on a cookie. But the cookie turned out cakey. i’ve used the same ratios in my cookies forever. I’ve never had a cakey cookie.

In retrospect with the extra water in the butter, I should’ve taken out some egg white to reduce the overall water in the dough.

Speaking of eggs, always weigh your eggs. The eggs I purchased were labeled “large”. Normally for a batch of biscotti, 4 large eggs will be very close to 200g, averaging about 50g per egg. These large eggs were huge. They averaged just over 57g each. The extra 28g of egg is the equivalent of “1/2 an egg”. That extra 28g would change the baker’s percentages from 40% to 45%. That’s a significant difference.

View attachment 3446

Great note. I've also found that the weight of my eggs can vary from 50-55g depending in the carton, so I also always weigh them out beforehand now.

And it goes to show how even though the ingredients you used were still basically the same, just different brands, the results were still noticeably different. That's an effect I see people usually underestimate when they make recipes.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Great note. I've also found that the weight of my eggs can vary from 50-55g depending in the carton, so I also always weigh them out beforehand now.

And it goes to show how even though the ingredients you used were still basically the same, just different brands, the results were still noticeably different. That's an effect I see people usually underestimate when they make recipes.

I have to say though the Tillamook brand butter I bought was spot on with the weight of each stick—113g each. The Plugra, my preferred brand is alway just slightly off.