I live in Germany. Butter here has a much slipperier or oilier consistency than butter in the US. As a result, using German butter in a US cookie, cake and pastry recipes causes the the batter to melt and spread too thin when baked. Does this have something to do with the fat content in the butter? Does anyone know of a rule-of-thumb recipe conversion that will help remedy this? Unfortunately, some of these are very rich buttery recipes and substituting shortening or margarine ruins the taste and texture. But I’ve been told by a pastry chef that it may not be the fat content of the butter as much as the lower gluten content of the flour here. Does anyone know the gluten content of: (a) the standard US flour and, (b) what is sold in the US as “cake flour”?
