I have been wanting to try Plugra butter in my buttercream and cakes because never did until now because of the cost. Everywhere I looked (not wholesale stores), Plugra was about $8-$10 a pound. I recently went to a Whole Foods in Raleigh, NC and Plugra was $3.99 a pound!. I looked twice to make sure it was true and grabbed a few pounds to store it, considering that cheap butter is almost $3 per pound. Just wondering, what butter do you guys use and how much do you pay?

Lurpak here in Australia - $6 for half a pound

Costco has just set up shop here in Sydney and it is SO MUCH cheaper there ..... but I need to factor in a day trip to get there and back - add cost of fuel and lost time.... cheaper to shop locally!

I live by a Fairway that sells Plugra by the half-pound for $4 bucks and change. Two feet away on the same shelf it's sells Plugra by the pound for $3.89. The half-pound size comes in a gold foil wrapper and the pound size comes in a red wax wrapper. I can't tell the difference otherwise. Very odd.

I remember hearing or reading that the Plugra butter with the red wrapper was the one usually offered for commercial use. Since most home cooks do not use as much butter as professional chefs and bakers, it also comes in half pound blocks with a foil wrapper that protects the butter better for longer storage in the refrigerator.

Honestly I use Land O Lakes, and to me that stuff is expensive. BUT I have tried other store brand butters and they definitely don't compare. However, recently I was able to get Lurpak for $0.69 for a half pound at a local discount grocery store. It was a month expired but it was so well-sealed that it didn't matter. It was incredible on toast. Then the next time I went back to the store it was gone.

I think in some baking, well with cake baking specifically, you don't need to use the European butter. Those butters are higher in fat anyway. When baking brioche or other viennoiseries, it is absolutely necessary to use European butter. To me it would seem heavy used in buttercream.

I just saw Plugra butter for the first time yesterday. What is the difference between this brand and regular butter? I prefer Tillamook or Challenge butter but I will use other brands if less expensive. The last butter I purchased for a large cake I made last weekend cost me 1.98 a pound. When my mother and I went to Hawaii in 2008 I was going to make the couple that owned the house we were renting some goodies until I saw that one pound of butter cost 8.00 a pound.

sweettreat,

Plugra is imported/European butter. It has more fat than American butters. It also has a much different taste than even the most expensive American butters. It's very rich and smooth and just melts in your mouth. Cold Land O Lakes doesn't even melt on toast, but put some Lurpak on there ice cold and it melts down with no problems. It's very velvety and rich and delicious.

Plugra is American but made in the European style.

LOL I didn't even realize that. I guess I missed the "style" part on the label. That makes it even crappier that they charge so much for it.

I use high ratio shortening in my buttercream it is smoth as silk nothing like regular shortening the cost is $13.99 for a three pound tub

I can regularly get an American made butter churned European style called Chef's Choice for $3.29-$4.29/lb. It is sold in a one pound block like the red wrapper Plugria--kinda a house brand version of it I suppose. When it is on sale, I will stock up and freeze it. Lately though I have been finding the Safeway Lucerne butter on the U/Card price of $2.19/lb. My freezer door is stocked with that now. I have tried many store brands and have rejected most of them, but the Lucerne is quite a bit like Challenge, IMO. I will also get the Costco/kirkland butter, but for big box butter i prefer the Sam's club pound blocks in the foil wrapper sold in the three? pack?

I just use store-brand butter, from either Ralphs or Stater Bros.

I was mildly shocked when I learned that the premium margarine we use ("I can't believe . . .") is actually slightly more expensive than store-brand butter (and I can certainly believe it's not butter! It only takes one taste for me to tell!). And of course, the vegan margarine I bought for the dairy-free shortbread project is a good deal more expensive.

My wholesaler sells Plugra for $3.55/lb and LOL for $2.98/lb. They are all I use. I have tried others but the fake "natural flavoring" is way too strong. Also, off brand butters contain water to up the weight, so many times you get nothing for the savings except a recipe that is off because of more water and less fat, plus the odd flavoring.

After a craptastic episode with weird tasting butter (Borden) I've switched back to Plugra-- which I stopped using because I felt it was too buttery. I'll take "too buttery" over "funny tasting" any day. Plugra is $2.67/lb at my Restaurant Depot.

I use only two brands of butter Lactantia ($5.99/lb) and Selection ($3.29/lb) but bare in mind that these are Canadian products..... So some of you might not be familiar or have never ever heard of any of these brands but if I have to choose between the two it'll have to be Lactantia as it is creamier and smoother....

I prefer the one pound blocks from Sam's club. Seems to be decent butter for me. And when you only have one wrapper to deal with versus four....what a time saver.

I know this may shock the snot nosed people who are so holier than thou, and wouldn't be caught dead in the store, but I prefer the Great Value brand from Walmart. It has one ingredient: cream. ALL the other butters I have found have the "natural flavoring" that is yellow, and tastes funny. It is $2.25ish a pound. It fluctuates. The Plugra is picked up from the wholesaler has it too. BLEH! no thank you!

See, for me Great Value is one of the ones that has an off-taste. Maybe my taste buds are weird...

What makes more expensive "European style" butters worth it to me (btw there is now a land o lakes product out there that calls itself "European style") is the butter fat content. European style butter has fat coneby around 82 or 83, making it more pliable (great for laminating doughs) and also more stable for italian/swiss butter creams because they have less water and are more stable at room temperature.

When it comes to cookies and most cakes your standard American butter with 70 something percent butter is perfectly adequate.

That's just my opinion.

i've dabbled with tillamook and kerrygold or was it terlagook and killymold any how -- a few of those european/estyle but just for family never used in a cake order --

but my one observation is that sam's club butter is always firmer than grocery store butter -- and i rarely use the word 'always' -- so i figure it's higher fat -- my sis-in-law is a rd and she told me the harder the cheese the more cholesterol/fat etc it has so that's my story -- i go with sam's club for the win

I used many American butters and can't tell the difference in baked goods, but there is a taste difference in my bitterness. I buy Sam's club, Meijer, and wisconsin butter. Has anyone tried European butter in Italian meringue or Swiss meringue butter cream?

Darn tablet. Difference in the taste of buttercream