In this recipe, the cake is mixed using the creaming method with cooled browned butter. I noticed that Stella adds some water with the rest of the ingredients when creaming in step 5 of the recipe, presumably to make up for some of the evaporated water when browning the butter, with the water being 6.25% the weight of the total butter so it's only a partial replacement.
My concern with this procedure is that you risk the water moistening the leaveners which are also creamed together with the butter at the start and activate them prematurely. Would it be better to simply add the water with the milk instead, or does having water present during the creaming process help aerate the butter better?
And if you do add the water with the milk, could you also just simplify things even further and just replace it with milk instead too? I know that water and milk aren't completely substitutable - the proteins in milk would theoretically cause more browning, for one thing - but with that small quantity I'm not sure if it would be a concern at all.
My concern with this procedure is that you risk the water moistening the leaveners which are also creamed together with the butter at the start and activate them prematurely. Would it be better to simply add the water with the milk instead, or does having water present during the creaming process help aerate the butter better?
And if you do add the water with the milk, could you also just simplify things even further and just replace it with milk instead too? I know that water and milk aren't completely substitutable - the proteins in milk would theoretically cause more browning, for one thing - but with that small quantity I'm not sure if it would be a concern at all.