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

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.

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.

Without sour cream, the cheesecake would be much denser. Not only that, but sour cream adds a sharp, tangy flavor that balances just right with the sweetness of the cake.

Sour cream is another great last minute milk replacement. It'll add moisture and is neutral in flavor. Stick to a one-to-one replacement.

Buttermilk. Here's a baking rescue: For each cup of sour cream needed in muffins, cakes and the like, you can sub in 1-1/3 cups buttermilk while decreasing the liquid called for in the recipe (such as juice, milk or water) by 1/3 cup.

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.

Yogurt and sour cream also work in a pinch, but do change the flavor profile a tad.

Greek yogurt, sour cream and buttermilk

Using some full-fat dairy products in place of vegetable oil works great in baked goods.

Signs of Spoilage

Even if your sour cream isn't yet at the "best by" or "use by" date, don't eat it if you notice: An Off Smell: Take a whiff of your sour cream. If it smells moldy, rancid, or stinky in any way beyond the usual sour smell, it probably has extra growth in it that will affect the flavor and safety.

Is sour cream good for your stomach? ›

The main health benefits of sour cream come from probiotics. Probiotics are healthy live bacteria that live in the human gut. Probiotics help people with lactose intolerance break down lactose in the small intestine before it reaches the colon (large intestine).

Whole milk yogurt works best and brings a big reduction in fat, plus more protein and calcium. Baked goods made with yogurt as a straight substitute for sour cream will turn out less tender, lighter in texture and have a tangier, less buttery flavor.

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.)

Step 10: Corn Starch Added

It did result in a more cake like texture as well. If you want to add something to thicken your cheesecake then I would definitely recommend this over flour to thicken it.

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.

It can even be oven cooked to a very thick consistancy without breaking. Bechemal with cream added would also not break.

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.