Dave, you're exactly right: Butter has a higher water content than shortening, and in some instances like pie crust and shortbread, this could make a real difference. In recipes that involve a fair bit of added liquid (like cakes), this would be less of an issue, since the water content is so much higher overall. In recipes where you want to be really precise, you can definitely use the 1.18:1 ratio to ensure that you have things just as you want them. Do keep in mind if you're measuring by volume that shortening weighs less than butter; a half cup of butter weighs 113 grams, while the same amount of shortening weighs only 92 grams. For beginner bakers though, 1:1 is a good place to start, and more advanced tweaking to get their preferred results can happen from there. Happy baking! Kat@KAF

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