Q: Why do some baking recipes call for unsalted butter but then instruct you to add salt later?

A: For most chefs and recipe developers, it's all about control. Pastry chef Lisa Saltzman uses unsalted butter exclusively when baking so that she can add salt judiciously. Such control is especially important when making pie crusts or almost any pastry, Lisa says, because with a limited number of ingredients, the flavor really comes through. "The pastry shouldn't be the focal point," says Lisa. "It's just a container."

Baking expert Alice Medrich cautions against using salted butter for really rich, chocolaty recipes. "Salted butter just ruins them," she says, because the salt becomes overpowering.

That said, there are some recipes where it doesn't really matter if you use salted or unsalted butter. For Saltzman, the best example is chocolate chip cookies because there are so many ingredients. As a result, "the salt doesn't show through as much," she says.

If you're faced with a recipe that calls for unsalted butter but you only have salted in the fridge, go ahead and use it. According to Medrich, you'll get similar results if you simply subtract 1/4 teaspoon of salt from the recipe for every stick (1/2 cup) of butter used.