Creaming Crystal Farms Butter and Sugar from 68.4 Degrees

Tonight I performed the third of three two-minute creaming experiments with Crystal Farms unsalted butter. Or I should say, the third and fourth of three experiments. :-)

First, here's what happened with the first two "good" experiments of two-minute creaming:

Starting Temperature:
68.4 - 68.5

Ending Temperature:
69.1 (change of 0.7) - 68.8 (change of 0.3)

Weight of creamed butter/sugar, not including weight of cup:
197g - 204g

Percent volume increase during creaming:
31.0% - 26.5%


In my first repetition of the experiment tonight, I used some butter that had previously warmed to 75 degrees, but which I subsequently put back in the refrigerator for several days. I brought the butter temperature up to 68.4 degrees - no fiddling around with the temperature at all, for once - and did the creaming. The temperature rose during creaming to about 71 degrees. The weight of creamed butter/sugar was 193 grams. That temperature rise of over 2.5 degrees was way more than the average 0.5 degrees rise of the previous two times. It's about the same I saw before when I used butter that had warmed to 75 degrees, but which I simply lowered to 68 degrees and proceeded. The volume increase during creaming was on the low side, too.

From the first repetition tonight, I conclude that once the butter gets too warm, there's no way to get it back to the state it was in before it got too warm. Even lowering its temperature back to forty degrees again for several days doesn't get it back to "ground zero" - even if it got only a few degrees too warm.

In my second repetition tonight, and the third of three, I brought the butter up to 70 degrees, and then sent the temperature back and forth about six times between 66 and 70 degrees, trying to get the temperature exactly to 68.4 degrees. Talk about fun! Well, I finally succeeded, and I immediately did the experiment. The final temperature was 70.5 degrees, and the weight was 204 grams.

Well, this temperature rise of 2.1 degrees was still a lot more than the first two repetitions I did of this procedure. I never really over-warmed the butter - that 70.5 was as warm as it got - but I conclude that going back and forth with the temperature a bunch of times, even with a lower limit, has an effect on it. However, this time the weight, hence the amount of air incorporated, was in line with my previous repetitions, and I feel I can average this value with the first two to get a real number for volume increase during creaming of Crystal Farms butter, from a starting temperature of 68.4 degrees.

So the data from three repetitions was:

Starting Temperature:
68.4 - 68.5 - 68.4

Ending Temperature:
69.1 (change of 0.7) - 68.8 (change of 0.3) - 70.5 (change of 2.1)

Weight of creamed butter/sugar, not including weight of cup:
197g - 204g - 204g

Percent volume increase during creaming:
31.0% - 26.5% - 26.5%


The average percent volume increase was 28.0% +- 2.6%

The average temperature change was 1.03 F. +- 0.95 F. if I include the last repetition, or 0.5 F. +- 0.28 F., if I do not include the last repetition.

I think the last number for change in temperature, though an average of only two repetitions, is the better number to use, because I observed twice that messing around with the temperature a lot makes the temperature rise more during creaming. I don't think it's worth doing a fifth repetition, because every creaming experiment uses a whole pound of butter and two cups sugar, and these numbers, especially the change in temperature during creaming, just are't that critical. It really bugs me, though, not to have three!

I didn't bake any cookies from this experiment, so no photo. Next I'll cream the butter for two minutes starting at around 70.5 degrees and see if those two degrees' difference causes there to be more air in the dough after mixing in the flour, and the cookies to come out less flat.