Sour Cream Is Such a Magical Ingredient in Baked Goods—Here's Why (2024)

FAQs

Sour Cream Is Such a Magical Ingredient in Baked Goods—Here's Why? ›

Moisture That Matters

How Is Sour Cream Used in Baking? Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.)

Baking with Sour Cream: The creamy texture of sour cream makes baked goods more moist than if you used milk. This makes sour cream an excellent choice for recipes that are known to have drier results, like sponge cakes.

Sour cream is commonly used as a condiment on foods, or combined with other ingredients to form a dipping sauce. It can be added to soups and sauces to help thicken and make them creamy, or in baking to help increase the moisture level over and above using milk.

Yogurt is your best substitute for sour cream. Whether you're baking or making a dip or sauce, yogurt is a 1:1 sub. That means if your recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream, you can replace it with 1 cup of yogurt.

Sour cream should be kept refrigerated at all times and should not be left out at room temperature for more than two hours. Additionally, it is important to check the expiration date on the container and to discard any sour cream that has passed its expiration date.

The best way to use sour cream with a boxed cake mix is to use it to replace the other liquids in the recipe, like milk or water. You can add up to a cup, or essentially the same amount of liquid you were originally meant to add, per the manufacturer's instructions.

The top tier of sour cream-eating countries are identified as the US, France, Poland, Russia, and Germany. The second tier includes countries of Eastern Europe and the EU.

The lactic acid bacteria increases the thickness of the cream and adds its characteristic tangy flavor. You can use sour cream as an ingredient to add an acidic flavor to sweet and savory meals. There are different types of sour cream.

In fact, you can substitute sour cream for milk almost anytime the recipe calls for less than a cup of milk.

What are the cons of sour cream? ›

You should avoid it if you have an allergy to cow's milk or intolerance to lactose, the sugar found in milk. Moreover, sour cream is inappropriate for anyone following a vegan or dairy-free diet. Sour cream is high in saturated fat and should only be eaten in moderation.

Usually, regular sour cream won't help your gut the same way yogurt can. But some brands add bacteria cultures back in after the last round of pasteurization. If you can find these products, they might help promote a healthy balance of bacteria in your gut.

The Facts. Early versions of sour cream were created when fresh milk was left to sit at room temperature and the cream rose to the surface. Naturally occurring bacteria soured it. Sour cream is prominent in central and eastern Europe, where it has traditionally been added to soups and stews (goulash, borscht).

While sour cream sets the stage for a denser, more traditional cake, the inclusion of Greek yogurt can often lead to a lighter, health-conscious choice with a subtler finish, perfect for those who enjoy a less heavy dessert.

You absolutely can freeze sour cream. As with any food, freezing will stop the growth of microorganisms indefinitely, keeping it safe until you thaw it for reuse. The caveat is that like other dairy products, sour cream will lose some of its thickness and smooth, creamy texture once it's frozen and thawed.

Just like sour cream, cream cheese is a dairy product that can be used in both sweet and savory recipes. Just be sure to let your cream cheese soften, then thin it out with a tablespoon or two of milk, buttermilk, or water. It'll make for a great replacement in your favorite party dips.

More Moist and Flavorful Batters and Doughs

Of course, sour cream can be used to enhance more than texture. It adds body and fermented flavor to these extra-flaky buttermilk biscuits and all five of our cornbread variations. We even throw it into sweet potato pancakes to offset the sweetness with some sour tang.

Both the yogurt and the sour cream mixtures quickly curdled, while the crème fraîche mixture remained perfectly creamy. Curdling occurs when excessive heat causes the whey proteins in dairy to denature (unfold) and bind with casein proteins, forming clumps of larger proteins.

When you add sour cream, you add moisture that is surrounded by fat. Both the fat in the butter and the fat in the sour cream help keep water molecules away from protein molecules, resulting in a more tender pie crust.

Full-fat Greek yogurt will offer the closest approximation of sour cream's flavor and texture, and can be used as a one-to-one replacement for sour cream. If you'd like, you can stir some heavy cream into any percentage of Greek yogurt to give it a somewhat richer body and higher fat content.