Baking with California Dairy

Dairy products are a baking staple and whether you're making quiche, cookies, tarts or turnovers, California has a delicious dairy product for every recipe. California produces more milk, butter, ice cream and yogurt than any other state. Our Happy Cows also keep bakers supplied with buttermilk, cream, sour cream and crème fraîche. So here are some tips, recipes, serving suggestions and fun facts to help bakers get the most out of California dairy products.

Baker's Guide

	1. Baking with Butter Flavor is paramount to bakers, and butter delivers sumptuous flavor better than any other fat. Butter enriches baked goods by contributing tenderness and moistness, and is responsible for the flakiness in biscuits, pie crusts, and puff pastry.
	2. Baking with Buttermilk Buttermilk is essential for adding tang and tender crumb characteristics to Southern favorites such as buttermilk biscuits, buttermilk pie, and cornbread. The acid in buttermilk, when combined with baking soda, produces light baked goods.
	3. Baking with Cottage Cheese Cottage cheese is another dairy product that adds flavor and the necessary fat for flakiness and tenderness to baked goods. Its unique curds can provide interesting texture to pastry dough, providing small bumps that brown beautifully in the oven.
	4. Baking with Cream As the saying goes, cream rises to the top, and that is certainly true in baking. Cream's richness produces tender cakes and pastries with a luscious flavor.
	5. Baking with Crème Fraîche Crème fraîche provides the richness of heavy cream with a pleasant tang. It is similar in tang and ranges in texture from that of sour cream to almost as solid as softened butter. It has a slightly nutty flavor and a velvety nap that enriches without being heavy.
	6. Baking with Milk Milk is used in many baking recipes, including custards, cookies, cakes and breads. Milk encourages the browning reactions characteristic of baked goods like pastry crusts, cookies, and biscuits. Milk contributes to the keeping quality of bread and gives it a soft crust.
	7. Baking with Sour Cream Rich and acidic in nature, this semi-liquid acts as a fat to produce moist, tender textures in cakes and pastries. Acids tenderize baked goods by breaking down long, stringy protein molecules into smaller pieces.
	8. Baking with Yogurt Yogurt tenderizes the protein in flour, resulting in soft-to-the-bite muffins, pastries or cakes. Its slightly acidic flavor adds a bit of tang.
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Food Safety Facts

Store fresh milk in the refrigerator, which is typically set at 38ºF-40ºF.
Keep it in the same container that it is sold to prevent absorption of other flavors.
Look for the "sell by" date, which refers to how long the retail store can keep the product for sale on the shelf.
If milk has an off odor or taste it is best to discard it, regardless of what the "sell by" date says.
Do not leave milk sitting on the counter for more than a few minutes.
Never return unused milk to the original container.
Freezing milk causes undesirable changes in texture and appearance.
In the case of buttermilk, separation normally occurs as it sits, so shake well before using.
Ultrapasteurized cream keeps several weeks longer than pasteurized cream or half-and-half, but once opened should be used within one week.