/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.11705675]

Hey /ck/, newfag at baking here and I have some really stupid questions to ask.
Is it possible to prepare a batter (not dough, so no yeast) the night before and just chuck it in the oven the next morning? How would that affect things?
What's the difference between salted and unsalted butter in baking? Are their compositions different enough to affect the product, or is it just a taste thing?
Are vanilla flavorings memes? Is there a significant difference between a $1 bottle of vanilla extract and a $30 vial of vanilla paste? If so, is the price jump justified?

Pic unrelated, and sorry for all the dumb questions.

[Anonymous No.11705682]

>>11705675
Yes
Nothing
The taste
No
Yes
No

[Anonymous No.11705695]

>>11705675
An overnight batter is fine if no leavening agents are used. Baking soda will lose the fizz. Some things are even better with a long batter rest.

Expensive vanilla is likely to be genuine vanilla extract it beans. It's nicer than the cheap stuff but the cheap stuff isn't terrible. The cheap stuff is or used to be made of beaver ass gland squeezings but I can't remember the name that is used.

[Anonymous No.11705697]

>>11705675
>leaving batter out
Don't do it, you'll lose the air you put so much effort into getting in there. Straight into the oven.

>Are vanilla flavorings memes? Is there a significant difference between a $1 bottle of vanilla extract and a $30 vial of vanilla paste? If so, is the price jump justified?
Yes, there's a world of difference. Buy decent vanilla paste.

[Anonymous No.11705718]

>>11705675
>Is it possible to prepare a batter (not dough, so no yeast) the night before and just chuck it in the oven the next morning? How would that affect things?
another vague question about baking, I know you have something specific in mind. what is it you want to make?
you can make yeast dough's ahead. Instead of letting them proof at room temp. let it go all night in the coolerator and make your cinnamon rolls pretty quick in the morning

[Anonymous No.11705780]

OP here, thanks for the replies. I figured the vanilla one would tickle some people in all the wrong ways. Just found it pretty absurd that a fairly "minor" ingredient like quality vanilla can easily cost as much as every other ingredient combined.

>>11705718
>what is it you want to make?
Nothing __too__ specific, I was thinking pretty butter-heavy stuff like pie dough and simple pastries in general though. I heard freezing the dough works if I don't want to bake right away.
I'm curious about the yeast part too, is there a certain time limit to proofing? Or are all those one-hour-two-hour things just good guidelines to live by? Let's say I'm a complete fucking buffoon and leave my dough out to proof for hours on end, is it just no good after a certain point?

[Anonymous No.11705785]

>>11705695

it was NEVER made of 'beaver ass gland squeezings'. the squeezings were just studied because they had similar compounds, the stuff that is manufactured is purely synthetic, they're not fucking farming beavers. also, that's strawberry.

[Anonymous No.11705795]

>>11705675
>Is it possible to prepare a batter (not dough, so no yeast) the night before and just chuck it in the oven the next morning? How would that affect things?
Why would you want to do that? There is not a single batter that takes longer to make than 10 minutes.

>What's the difference between salted and unsalted butter in baking? Are their compositions different enough to affect the product, or is it just a taste thing?
Depends on the amount of salt. Just taste it. But generally no, take the unsalted one.

>Are vanilla flavorings memes? Is there a significant difference between a $1 bottle of vanilla extract and a $30 vial of vanilla paste? If so, is the price jump justified?
Can' t really tell. I use extract all the time + it' s easy to make.

[Anonymous No.11705798]

>>11705780
sometimes I make biscuits and freeze them before baking. do it with your pie dough,. but I would think the soda and powder might get weird in the fridge, I don't know.
with the yeast. it takes a couple hours at room temp for the dough to double in size. that is what your looking for. put in the fridge over night and you get the same but at a slower rate.
if you left your yeast dough out for a few days, which I did a couple weeks back. you can watch the yeast as a living thing constantly moving/bubbling, I don't know when the certain point is, when it's no good though.

[Anonymous No.11705834]

>>11705795
>Why would you want to do that?
Well, I'm still a novice, sorry that I can't work that fast yet. Plus, I work like a troglodyte. The place gets really messy and things are all over the place. I think it'd be nice to prep everything then clean up the place at night, then just pop a tray in the oven when I get up and have some fresh baked goods for a comfy lazy morning.

>take the unsalted one
So it is just a taste thing then? Most of the recipes I've been looking at call for unsalted butter, yet still ask for some amount of salt afterwards. I guess it gives finer control over the saltiness, but I just found it kinda funny if you're just gonna add the salt back in.

>>11705798
Oh interesting, thanks. Thinking about it, that's pretty much how sourdough works right? Lots of yeast just left alone to fester.

[Anonymous No.11705841]

>>11705834
>Lots of yeast just left alone to fester.
Oh, correction, no yeast but the principle's sorta there. Just stuff fermenting and bubbling for a while.

[Anonymous No.11705947]

>>11705841
yeah, you don't add yeast but use what's already there. They need to grow before you have an usable amount.
on OP's questions, yes, you can make a batter beforehand, buttery batters will be more flake-y and floury batters will be more moist. I sometimes made pancake batter overnight, cookie dough as well.
and I've never noticed a difference in taste with salted/unsalted butter, but I usually skip the 'pinch of salt' if I'm using salted, maybe that's why. On the vanilla thing, no clue, I've only used the synthetic stuff (doesn't it come from the bark of a tree?). Would love to make some homemade extract.

[Anonymous No.11707400]

>>11705675
>Is it possible to prepare a batter (not dough, so no yeast) the night before and just chuck it in the oven the next morning? How would that affect things?
Depends on what you want to do with it but generally no.

>What's the difference between salted and unsalted butter in baking?
With unsalted butter you can control exactly how much butter is in the recipe and for anything delicate that's critical.

>Are their compositions different enough to affect the product, or is it just a taste thing?
See above.

>Are vanilla flavorings memes?
No.

>Is there a significant difference between a $1 bottle of vanilla extract and a $30 vial of vanilla paste?
Yes

>If so, is the price jump justified?
Depending on what you're making, absolutely. If the vanilla is going to be the star of the show you should spend what you need to get the best. If it's just going in some cheap cookies or with other flavorings, however, you don't have to go crazy; just make sure that what you buy is actual vanilla and not artificial.

[Anonymous No.11707452]

america's test kitchen just did a test of imitation vanilla flavoring vs. commercial vanilla extract and imitation won. that may just mean that commercial extract is garbage.