Search This Blog

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Butter

Home made butter is easy.  I used 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and ended up with 1 cup of buttermilk and about 1 and 1/2 cups of butter.  I made unsalted butter so I can use it in my baking.
The key to making butter is to whip it.  Whip it good.
This is the whipped cream stage.  To make sweet whipped cream I add 2 Tbs powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract to my 2 cups of heavy whipping cream.  This is a great topping for desserts.  But we are not making whipped cream this time.  We are making butter.  Continue to whip it.
Continually whipping the heavy cream on high, past the whipped cream stage, and it starts to separate and look grainy.  Keep whipping.
Finally when it separates you are done.  The liquid part is buttermilk and the solid is butter.
Drain the whole mess through a strainer over a bowl.
Mash the butter down a bit to get all the buttermilk out.
This is buttermilk.  Keep it.
Fresh buttermilk has a more mild flavor than store bought.  It is best stored in the refrigerator for about a week.  I used it to make pancakes.  I also store things in empty ice cream containers.
Take the strained butter and put it in ice water.
Mash the butter with a wooden spoon into small chunks.
Strain it again to get all the cold water out.
Mash it into the strainer to get as much water out as you can.  Do not save the butter water, you can throw that out.
Put the butter onto wax paper.
Roll up butter into wax paper and store it in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks or in the freezer for a few months.
Fresh home-made butter.

No comments:

Post a Comment