Does Salted Butter Change How Baked Goods Turn Out?

Question

Will using salted butter when baking affect how things will bake?

Lynn Clark · Accepted Answer

Hi Dominic - Generally speaking, no. There's only about 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick of butter (for most commercial brands). At Milk Street we use salted butter in all of our baking recipes. We think the overall flavor is better than in unsalted butter. If you are using a recipe that calls for unsalted butter, however, remember to eliminate the salt in the recipe or the final product will taste too salty. There's a great article from the Washington Post about how unsalted butter became the preferred choice for baking and how professional cooks are turning back towards salted butter, which was used for generations before the switch to unsalted.
One caveat I would make - I generally don't use salted butter for buttercream frosting. Since it's such a tight ingredient list make up of mostly butter, I do think it makes the buttercream too salty. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Does Salted Butter Change How Baked Goods Turn Out?

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