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

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.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

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.

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.

Cream Cheese, Mascarpone, and Cottage Cheese

Fresh, spreadable cheeses like cream cheese and mascarpone generally work well as 1:1 substitutes for sour cream in baking. Be sure to let them warm up to room temperature before using, and thin them out slightly by stirring in milk or lemon juice to get a similar texture.

Cultured sour cream is made by adding a culture of Streptococcus lactis to pasteurized light cream and incubating at 72˚F until the desired flavor and thickness is reached. The lactic acid produced by the culture coagulates the protein, thickening the cream and adding the characteristically sour flavor.

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.

Sour cream is high in saturated fats, so limiting your intake and focusing on healthy options is best. If you only have 1 or 2 tablespoons of full-fat sour cream as an occasional garnish, it's probably not a big concern, though. Alternatively, you could switch to light, low-fat, or fat-free versions.

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.

Meanwhile, sour cream and cheese contains Tyramine and pyrazine, (also found in pickled foods, and coffee) are the main ingredients in antidepressants and asthma bronchodilators. Chances are if you like to spice up your food, you like the rest your life to follow suit.

When should you not eat sour cream? ›

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.

Eating sour cream in moderation is fine as long as you can tolerate dairy and lactose-based foods. If you have issues with lactose, you may want to avoid sour cream. Most sour cream is high in fat and calories, so eating more than a serving suggestion may be bad for heart health.

Sour cream is not a traditional Mexican ingredient. Traditional Mexican dishes are made with crema, a milder and thinner option than sour cream.

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.

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.

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.

Make a straight substitution — If you want to create healthier baked goods or just want a simple substitution, use an equal amount of yogurt in place of the sour cream. Whole milk yogurt works best and brings a big reduction in fat, plus more protein and calcium.

Sour cream or full fat yogurt can be substituted 1:1 for whole milk. Use this substitute in baking quick breads or for adding creaminess to pan sauces. Sour cream works especially well in recipes calling for buttermilk, too and vanilla-flavored yogurt can be used for sweet quick breads and cakes.