Jacques Pépin Shared His Favorite Butter for Baking — and You Can Find It at Dollar General

When Jacques Pépin recommends a brand of butter, we listen. As one of the world’s most acclaimed chefs (and a Frenchman) who has flambéed crêpes suzette and baked tarte tatin alongside Julia Child, he knows which butter is up to the task for all your baking needs. 

Before you start baking with butter, Pépin says the first step is to taste it. A well-made butter should have a dairy-rich, sweet cream flavor. That’s what gives everything from an all-butter pie dough to a brown-butter chocolate chip cookie that satisfying, “I can’t stop eating this” feeling. 

The easiest way to taste butter is to spread it over a piece of bread, Pépin notes. But to determine quality for baking, he doesn’t only assess the flavor. “I can also see the way it spreads or breaks,” says Pépin. A softer butter will be easier to work with when making laminated pastries like croissants.

It might surprise you to learn that Pépin doesn’t automatically reach for rare or premium-priced butters. His go-to butter for baking is a staple from early in his cooking career: Land O’Lakes.

“Years ago, I started using Land O’Lakes because it was one of the only butters I could find. It’s still a favorite of mine,” he says. Pépin relies on it for laminated doughs like puff pastry, where butter is essential for both flavor and function. As the water in the butter evaporates during baking, it creates steam that gives the pastry its signature puff. He also uses it for simpler doughs, like in the piecrust for his rustic apple tart. 

Luckily for home bakers, Land O’Lakes is widely available in stores that range from Dollar General to Erewhon. We’ve yet to see a grocery store that doesn’t carry it.

When it comes to European-style butter, Pépin recommends Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. European-style butter has a higher butterfat content than its American counterpart, and is often cultured, which gives it a tangy flavor. With its 82% butterfat content and luxurious, creamy flavor, Kerrygold is indeed an excellent choice — it won our “Best Overall” category in a staff-led butter taste test. 

We appreciate you, Jacques, for spreading the word and making us, umm, butter bakers.