The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

can dry buttermilk replace dry milk in a recipe?

photojess's picture
photojess

can dry buttermilk replace dry milk in a recipe?

or would the fat content mess things up?  I really don't want to go out and spend $6 on a  box of dry milk, when I have a tub of buttermilk here at the house.  What do you think?

Oh, and would nonfat or low fat mixes make a difference either way?  Just curious about that one.

flournwater's picture
flournwater

The short answer to your question is, I believe, yes  -  using dry buttermilk in place of dry whole milk would make a difference.  Would you notice it?  Probably not.  If you think it might be a problem you could always include a small amount of butter to replace the fat that you might lose using the buttermilk.  But I wouldn't worry about it.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Here is a LINK  that might prove useful...  

cooknhotnaz's picture
cooknhotnaz

Excellent information to have on hand. Many thanks to you, Mini Oven for a great link.

And to you, photojess, great question! Never would have thought of that one. Now we all know that if we want to have our dash of dry milk to have more fat... go for the dry buttermilk.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

It looks like it's not far from low fat to me.  Check out the fat in dry whole milk, looks almost like a typo!  I would suggest that for little more fat it'll have to be added. 

Janknitz's picture
Janknitz

With respect to his white bread recipe variations: 

That you can subsitute one type of milk for another.  The changes "may affect the final outcome slightly in both texture and flavor" (p. 265), but it doesn't sound like any will be detrimental to the finished product. 

PR suggests experimenting and seeing which you like better--a great suggestion. 

I've heard that the acid in buttermilk "conditions" the dough and has a nice effect--that may make more of a difference than the fat content.

photojess's picture
photojess

Mini, I'll be sure to check out your link after work tonight.  I did just check the label on the dry buttermilk.  It's SACO brand- less than 1gm of fat per 4 TBSP.....I was under the impression that buttermilk was fattening, and this isn't a low fat version, it's the regular kind.....I'm excited now!

My daughter had bought it a while ago for something she made, and I've never used it.

Thanks again for the comments!

althetrainer's picture
althetrainer

Powered milk in Canada is expensive.  For a 100 grams of organic dried milk it will cost almost $2.  For organic powered buttermilk, it's about $1.60 per 100 grams so it's a bit cheaper, but more difficult to find.  I found some organic buttermilk powder in a whole food store and I use it to sub for powdered skim milk from time to time.  It works very well in the sweet bun recipe.  I even use it to make custard and butter cream for filling. 

photojess's picture
photojess

Now I just need to find the recipe again, that started the original question.....

oh, that is a problem I have....too many good looking recipes, and not enough time, esp with working late days......I want to bake more than I do!

JoPi's picture
JoPi

I recently found a small bag (looks like more than a cup full)  of dry milk in the bulk section of my local farmers market.  It cost about $2.00.  Since you only use about a Tbsp. or so at a time, it will last a while.