Salted vs. unsalted butter

Unsalted butter is the studio default. Salt content in salted butter varies by brand, and that swing is enough to throw off cookies and buttercream.

If salted is what you have, drop the added salt in the recipe by about ¼ teaspoon per stick (113g) of butter. Taste frostings and doughs before you commit.

For finishing — warm bread, roasted vegetables, a skillet of eggs — salted butter is welcome. Use it where you would reach for a finishing flake of salt.

Temperature matters more than the label. Recipes that say room temperature mean the stick should give slightly when pressed, not melt into a puddle.