Ask a Vegan Baker
Our community would love to help you with your vegan baking questions. Please log in to ask or answer a question. Want to be on the Ask a Vegan Baker answer team? Contact us!
Daniel-san
Offline
Hi all,
I cannot easily find good quality vegan margarine in my city and I kind of have to use oil to replace margarine (or butter). A professional baker (non-vegan) told me once that the trick is to use 2/3 of oil to replace a quantity of butter or margarine and until now it always turns out fine.
But I am just wondering about the taste, can we really find a difference between same recipe : one made with margarine, the other made with oil?
Is there really a difference in the taste?
I guess it might also depend on what we are talking about (something like a sugar cookie might need good tasty margarine, maybe not a chocolate cake)...
If anyone's got something to share about that.
I cannot easily find good quality vegan margarine in my city and I kind of have to use oil to replace margarine (or butter). A professional baker (non-vegan) told me once that the trick is to use 2/3 of oil to replace a quantity of butter or margarine and until now it always turns out fine.
But I am just wondering about the taste, can we really find a difference between same recipe : one made with margarine, the other made with oil?
Is there really a difference in the taste?
I guess it might also depend on what we are talking about (something like a sugar cookie might need good tasty margarine, maybe not a chocolate cake)...
If anyone's got something to share about that.
Share this post:
Accepted Answer
Mattie
Offline
Hi Daniel-san,
Welcome to the forums! The 2/3 oil to 1 cup butter or margarine rule is because butter and to a lesser extent, margarine incorporates small amounts of water and even smaller amounts of air. Oil is 100 percent fat in comparison.
Butter and margarine definitely enhances the flavor complexity of your baked item due to it's butter flavor compounds. This is almost a sort of 'umami' which is the Japanese idea of savory, arguably the 5th flavor sense. When I design a recipe I usually prefer to use oil unless the recipe significantly benefits from the flavors of butter. Recipes containing corn, pumpkin, or other savory/sweet elements tend to work out better with margarine's buttery flavors.
Also, it's impossible to make flaky pie crust and puff pastry with oil. This is because these things rely heavily on solid fat both isolating the gluten in the flour by coating it (instead of being absorbed) and the solid fats creating several altering layers that get crispy during baking and allow for leavening caused by these layers expanding.
Hope this clarifies things a little!
Someday I'd love to make a blend of margarine from coconut oil and cocoa butter and some other stuff and see what I can come up with.
Welcome to the forums! The 2/3 oil to 1 cup butter or margarine rule is because butter and to a lesser extent, margarine incorporates small amounts of water and even smaller amounts of air. Oil is 100 percent fat in comparison.
Butter and margarine definitely enhances the flavor complexity of your baked item due to it's butter flavor compounds. This is almost a sort of 'umami' which is the Japanese idea of savory, arguably the 5th flavor sense. When I design a recipe I usually prefer to use oil unless the recipe significantly benefits from the flavors of butter. Recipes containing corn, pumpkin, or other savory/sweet elements tend to work out better with margarine's buttery flavors.
Also, it's impossible to make flaky pie crust and puff pastry with oil. This is because these things rely heavily on solid fat both isolating the gluten in the flour by coating it (instead of being absorbed) and the solid fats creating several altering layers that get crispy during baking and allow for leavening caused by these layers expanding.
Hope this clarifies things a little!
Someday I'd love to make a blend of margarine from coconut oil and cocoa butter and some other stuff and see what I can come up with.
Responses (5)
-
Accepted Answer
DebLinOfflineMattie
Thanks for responding to quickly. I did try the scones using solid coconut oil. They were a little dry. The texture didn't look like your picture. More like the scones were about to crumble. If that makes any sense. They were still VERY delicious!!!
Thanks for the recipes on here. I hope someone else has developed a website for meals that is as well maintained and gives such GREAT instruction as this one does. If someone knows of a good website for vegan meals, please let me know. I have only been a vegan for about 6 months now. Getting tired of the same recipes I began with. Thanks again!!!! Deb -
Accepted Answer
MattieOfflineHi Deb!
Scones have a short dough which means that it needs lots of solid fats to ensure the gluten doesn't bind and make it chewy. That's how scones get their awesome tender texture. Since solid fats are needed, you'll want to get your hands on coconut oil, margarine or Vegan Butter if you want to make scones with those qualities.
If you don't have any solid fats, I'd recommend making muffins
Good luck! -
Accepted Answer
DebLinOffline -
Accepted Answer
MattieOfflineI eventually figured out how to make Vegan Butter! It works really well as a drop-in replacement for butter and other margarines because it has the same water to fat ratio as butter. If you don't know about it already, here's the link:
http://veganbaking.net/other-vegan-treats/735-vegan-butter -
Accepted Answer
Daniel-sanOffline
Your Reply
Please login to post a reply
You will need to be logged in to be able to post a reply. Login using the form on the right or register an account if you are new here.
Register Here »