The August 3 Food Section of the Columbus Dispatch had the
following article that may be of interest to bread bakers.
Here are some relevant excerpts.
This has never been a problem for me since I always use canola
or olive oil in my bread, even when the recipe calls for
butter or margarine. But those of you who use margarine
should make sure that it *is* margarine and not a spread.
-- Mary Beth
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'Unanounced' changes in margarine may explain sudden
baking flops -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Cecelia Kazakewicz had made pound cake from the
same recipe for more than 20 years. This time, after 1 1/2
hours of baking, raw spots still pockmarked a cake that
was "all shrunk up from the sides, like a souffle that
fell", she said.
Kazakewicz of Washington, Pa., found out the hard
way that her stick margarine had turned into spread. "It
seems kind of deceptive" to use the same package front
with just one word changed," she said.
By law, margarine has 80 percent fat. Anything less
must be labeled a "spread" which won't work exactly like
regular margarine. The decision by the makers of Parkay
and other margarines to go with less fat also has perplexed
professional recipe developers, including those at Betty
Crocker and Pillsbury.
"Margarine has changed, and as far as I'm concerned, they
didn't tell anybody it changed", said Andi Bidwell, food
editor of "Pillsbury Classic Cookbook"...
Marcia Copeland, director of General Mills Betty
Crocker Kitchens, called the switch to spreads "a completely
silent evolution--or revolution".
...
Today, cooks are hard-pressed to find a full-fat margarine
among all the tubs, soft spreads, squeeze bottles
and stick spreads. Some spreads have a modest reduction
in oils, perhaps from 80 percent to 68 percent. Others
are more dramatic, 40 percent or 48 percent, for example.
The lower the fat percentage, the more change in
cooking and baking properties. ...
It isn't just cookies and cakes that are left in
the lurch. Home economist Pat Waldoch answers consumer
questions for Universal Foods' Red Star Yeast.
"Margarine has so many different percentages
that people are really having problems with their bread
machine", she said. Bread makers already have problems
with humidity, she added, so "we've been recommending
butter or oil."
...
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