Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My daughter is very interested in the perfect pastry experiment. My only concern is that I feel you have two variables if you change the type go fat AND the temperature. Isn't this true? Would it be better to eliminate the shortening and only use butter and it's temperature?

You are talking about https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary ? The procedure as I read it calls for changing only the fat used in the recipe and keeping everything else the same, including the temperature and bake time.

You are absolutely right - you should not be changing two variables. The procedure calls for changing just the one ingredient. An experiment where you keep the ingredients the same and only change the temperature would be a completely different experiment.

Howard

Thanks for your reply. My point was that the 2 different fats are added in three different ways (cold, room temp, and melted)...is that not changing a second variable? Sorry...a scientist I am not...we have to satisfy a VERY specific instructor with this project. This is my daughter's first ever science fair project. She will be completing it entirely on her own, but I just want to make sure she doesn't complete the experiment and then get discouraged after it's picked apart for something as basic as my question. My daughter LOVES baking, so thought this fit her perfectly.

I would say that in this case, using cold butter, melted butter, room temp butter and shortening while keeping everything else the same would pass muster at a science fair. If you want to be picky, I guess you could say that for the butter you're just changing the temperature but I'm not sure that's true. In baking it's also about how the fats puff up when baking. Melted butter will sort of soak into the flour where the cold butter will remain in little buttery pieces and cause flakiness.

You and your daughter should just have fun with the project, be as scientific as possible and your results will be perfectly presentable. You'll also have dessert for several dinners.

Howard

Ha! Well, thanks again for all of your help. I greatly appreciate it. Picky is exactly what we encounter which makes science inquiry more stressful than fun. I will update you after she completes/submits her project....hopefully it will earn a passing grade. She's excited at this point in the process, so that's all I care about! Now, off to hypothesize....must be stated as... if...then...