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Research Question Will the biscuits substituting butter for vegetable oil be shorter or taller after baking than the ones with butter?
Hypothesis I believe that the biscuits made with butter instead of vegetable oil will be the taller ones. Butter is added to biscuits so that while they are baking, the butter melts and releases steam that puffs and lifts the dough. I am not sure that vegetable oil will have this same reaction, so I guess that butter will rise higher.
Materials Cooking Utensils ● 2 large mixing bowls ● Baking tray ● Extra flour ● Whisk ● Cheese Grater ● Mug or cup Ingredients Butter Biscuits
Vegetable Oil Biscuits
● 1 cup flour
● 1 cup flour
● ½ tbsp baking powder
● ½ tbsp baking powder
● ½ tbsp sugar
● ½ tbsp sugar
● ½ tsp salt
● ½ tsp salt
● 3 tbsp cold butter
● 3 tbsp vegetable oil
● ⅜ cup whole milk
● ⅜ cup whole milk
Procedure It should be noted that procedures for both vegetable oil and butter biscuits are the same up until the point where either vegetable oil or butter is added in. 1. Preheat oven to 425° fahrenheit 2. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well 3. This step varies a. Butter: Grate butter into the powder mixture and stir until it resembles coarse crumbs
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4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
b. Vegetable oil: Pour vegetable oil into powder mixture and mix together Add milk to mixture and stir until well combined Transfer to a well floured surface and begin to work dough together. Add flour to dough until it is no longer sticky Fold dough in half, rotate 90°, and repeat 5-6 times Flatten to 1 inch thick Use cup or mug to cut out circles of dough Bake on 425°f for 12 minutes or until golden brown
Results/Data Variables Variable
Control Group (Butter)
Experimental Group (Vegetable Oil)
Knead Time
3 min
3 min
Rise Time
0 min
0 min
Bake Temperature
425°f
425°f
Bake time
16 min
16 min
Variable
Control Group (Butter)
Experimental Group (Vegetable Oil)
Height before baking
¾ inch
¾ inch
Height after baking
1 ¾ inch
1 ½ inch
Rise height
1 inch
¾ inch
Texture before baking
Sticky and lumpy
Sticky and lumpy
Texture after baking
Crispy on the outside, smooth and moist on the inside
Slightly crispy on the outside, smooth and dry on the inside
Color before baking
Yellowish Tan
Yellowish Tan
Color after baking
Golden brown with spots of darker brown around edges
Golden tan consistently throughout the biscuit.
Data/ Observations
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Photos
In all of these photos, the left side is butter and the right side is vegetable oil.
Photo #1: This photo shows the mixture after adding butter in
Photo #2: This photo shows the mixture after adding in the milk
Photo #3: This photo shows the dough after being kneaded
Photo #4: This photo shows the dough cut into circles
Photo #5: This photo shows the biscuits after being baked
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Conclusion My hypothesis was proven correct, as the biscuits with butter rose ¼ of an inch more than the vegetable oil biscuits. However, I made some other valuable observations as well. These can be broken down into 3 main categories, taste, texture, and appearance. Taste: The butter biscuits beat the vegetable oil biscuits by far in this category. One of the reasons that biscuits are so good is that buttery taste, and without butter, the vegetable oil biscuits were seriously lacking flavor. They tasted almost like plain flour. However, the butter biscuits, as they contained butter, tasted like butter. Texture: The butter biscuits beat the vegetable oil biscuits by far in this category. They had a nice and crispy outer shell, and after making it through this layer, the inside was fluffy and moist. The vegetable oil biscuits had a softer outer shell and the insides were rather dry. Appearance: There are several aspects that made the butter biscuits more appealing appearance wise. First, the butter biscuits seemed to cook faster, as they achieved the golden brown color while the vegetable oil biscuits did not. The butter biscuits also rose more, giving the biscuits those nice ridges on the side that the vegetable oil biscuits did not have as well developed. Overall, the butter biscuits were of a higher quality. The biggest aspect that set the 2 apart was definitely taste, as a butter flavor is one of the main things I hope for when eating a biscuit. So if I were to make these again, I would definitely choose butter over vegetable oil.
Reflection I ran into several issues during this project. Unfortunately, my partner was absent the day that we were baking, so I had some difficulty baking by myself. I also did not have a few of the materials required, but I made do with what I had. I found it interesting to apply all the things we had learned in class into one assignment. We applied our knowledge of leavening agents to design our recipes and applied our knowledge of conversions to create the right recipe size. To make my recipe, I just divided the original recipe in half. Overall, I thought this was a very interesting experience and I would not be surprised if I make biscuits again, but this time without vegetable oil.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1caADYgqOACvmqQAPRp6L-Bx9AhLBvJQ5_toYjCCLpms/edit
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