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Also, with regard to the butter post, would you not want to use the dry butter in bread applications because the moisture will help activate glutens? Or do you assume that your processes in preparing the bread dough do enough activation that the extra moisture from the butter is not necessary?

Reasonable question(s), Sara.

Bread doughs develop plenty of gluten if properly kneaded and in appropriate flour to water ratios. Missing the additional water from a dry(er) butter will do little to no damage whatsoever. While the additional butterfat will coat some of the flour molecules and prevent them from stringing together, the difference will be modest at most. Moisture levels in the air and the flour will affect the final product much more than water content in the butter which is why it is always a bit of a guessing game, even if baking by weight from a recipe. In yeast doughs rich in butter the benefit of using a better butter would be better flavor.

Plus, one always has the option of adding additional water to make up the 2-8% loss (by weight of the beurre sec), if one is so inclined. Personally, I'd follow the recipe to spec. and add extra flour (or water) if the dough looked like it required it.

Photo © Straus Creamery

If you ask any culinary professional worth their salt: "What is the key to success in the kitchen?" they will almost always respond with "start with the best ingredients available." If one can perceive the unspoken, yet inherent, addition of "and don't screw them up," one would be 75% of the way toward making a great meal. Not unlike everything else in life, when it comes to food, you generally get what you pay for - and it's usually worth the extra 10-20% to buy premium brand base items (though there are a few exceptions to this rule). You'll find if you follow the exact recipe for say, veal scallopine, with store brand flour and butter and place it next to a the same breaded in premium flour (say King Arthur's Flour) and butter (which you have previously clarified) the latter will win in a blind taste test every time.

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