If you’re out of milk or are just looking to add a richness and flavor to your baking, substituting sour cream for milk is an easy option. Sour cream can take the place of whole milk, half and half, cream, skim milk and buttermilk. However, the flavor will be different, and you may need to adjust liquid ratios and fats in your recipe for a good result.
Step 1: Use 1 cup of sour cream to replace 1 cup of milk in recipes.
Step 2: Decrease the baking powder in the recipe by 1 tsp. for each cup of sour cream used, and increase the baking soda by 1 tsp. Add and remove these leavening agents when mixing dry ingredients.
Step 3: Reduce the shortening or butter in the recipe when you use sour cream in place of milk. Allow the fat in the sour cream to replace 1/2 cup of butter, oil or shortening per cup of sour cream. Do not make this alteration if you are using sour cream in place of cream or half and half.
Step 4: Add the sour cream to the recipe with the wet ingredients. Expect the batter to be somewhat thicker than it would be otherwise.
Step 5: Bake for the suggested time, but do not be surprised if cakes or muffins take an extra minute or two.
Warnings
- The hint of tartness offered by sour cream works well with most baked goods, but if you are concerned, add an additional 1/2 tsp. vanilla to your recipe.
- Avoid using fat-free sour cream. Separation is apt to occur when heated, ruining your baked goods.
Baking soda and powder are not one to one substitutes by volume or weight for that matter. subtract 1 teaspoon baking powder for every 1/4 teaspoon baking soda you add. Also thin out one cup sour cream with 1/4 cup water.
If you wish to mimic fat content of original recipe, subtract 10 teaspoons butter or 9 teaspoons oil for every cup of sour cream.
Slight variability from non-standardized products is fine for home applications.
You can find reliable sources that show you how to mix water, butter, cream, and various milk percentages to substitute between various milk derivatives in case you have those items and would not like to alter the recipe. The source is not reliable if it uses light cream and heavy cream interchangeably.