I love making kitchen staples and I especially love foods that undergo a transformation before my very eyes. That’s what happens with butter. You start with cream and then through the whipping process, separate it into butter and buttermilk, both of which are great edible products. It’s an almost magical process which never fails to delight me!
In this video, I also show you how to use a gorgeous butter press. It’s a vintage-inspired implement which is so handy when making your own butter to squeeze out the last of the moisture and form it into a neat prism – this brand-new version is in my shop.
Makes: approx. 250 grams (9 oz) butter
Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
600 grams (21 oz) cream (see Tips)
Method
1. Insert Butterfly. Mix on speed 4 until buttermilk splits from butter. This can take between 1 minute and 5 minutes.
2. Remove Butterfly. Strain buttermilk from butter and set aside buttermilk for other uses.
3. Add 300 grams (10.5 oz) cold water to mixing bowl. Wash 5 sec/speed 5, then strain again. Repeat washing and straining until liquid runs clear, or almost clear.
4. Press butter, using butter press if you have one. Store butter in refrigerator.
Tips
- Butter is formed when solids split from pure cream as it’s churned.
- The byproduct is buttermilk, which is great for baking, pancakes and as a marinade for meat, especially chicken.
- Butter can be frozen; wrap it tightly before freezing.
- Any pure cream can be used to make butter but the higher the fat content, the more butter and the less buttermilk you will end up with. If I want butter and don’t have any immediate use for buttermilk, I use high-fat double cream with around 51% fat. Otherwise, I use 35% fat pure cream. Thickened cream works, too, but it means there’s a thickening agent (gelatine or vegetable gum) in your butter. There’s very little difference in flavour or utility.
How long does it keep?
- Homemade butter keeps for 10 days or so unsalted, but you can freeze it if you want to keep it longer (6 months). Salted will last about double that. In all cases, wrapping tightly will protect the butter from the air which reacts to oils in it and turns them sour or rancid (wrapping is easier when you use a butter press!). There is another way of looking at it… Older butter will have a sour taste but it isn’t ‘bad’ as such and won’t make you sick. In fact, it’s closer to traditional cultured butter which is made from lightly fermented cream. Of course, if there’s mould on your butter, you should probably steer clear – though even then it’s unlikely to make you ill.
Variations
- Check out my flavoured butter variations.
- If salted butter is desired, add a pinch of fine salt to butter after final washing stage and mix 10 sec/speed 3.
- To make spreadable butter, add 50 grams (1.8 oz) vegetable oil to butter after final washing stage and mix 10 sec/speed 3. (Salt can be added at the same time.)
Have you tried my Crumpet recipe yet? They’re incredibly delicious and easy to make, and they taste amazing served with lashings of this homemade butter.
More about this video
- A girl’s gotta get dressed! Today I’m wearing Obus.