i spent time with our friend amanda in her kitchen a few weeks ago...we have been trickling out recipes from our day together these last few weeks, and today i wanted to share a simple recipe we nibbled on while we worked: homemade butter. amanda found this recipe on sparkle stories' blog, fyi...
homemade butter
makes about 8 ounces
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons yogurt or buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon salt
- In a clean bowl or large measuring cup, mix the cream and yogurt.
- Cover with a tea towel and allow to sit at room temperature for about 12 hours. At the end of that time, the cream should be thickened and possibly a little golden. (If it’s bubbling or gassy looking, you’ve accidentally introduced some bad bacteria and you’ll need to throw that cream away and start over.)
- Next, pour the thickened cream into a large mixing bowl and whisk with a stand or hand-held mixer for several minutes. The cream will thicken first, but it will eventually “break” into two separate parts—curdles of butter and buttermilk. When that happens, stop the mixer and pour off as much of the buttermilk as you can. This is essentially the same buttermilk you would buy at the store, so save it and use it in another recipe.
- Then, using a spatula or fork, work the butter back and forth at the bottom of the bowl. You’ll notice that even more buttermilk will start to come out. When that happens, add a little ice water and keep working. Every few minutes, pour off the old water and add new—continuing to work the butter all the while. This is called “washing” the butter. The butter is completely washed, and you’re finished, when any new water that you add stays clear.
- If you’d like salted butter, pour the butter out onto a cutting board and sprinkle the salt over the top. Mix the salt in well.
- Finally, pack the butter into small lidded containers and store in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!
and,
this butter goes so well with this divine bread from my new roots...click here to see the recipe...enojy!
photographs by rinne allen, recipes from sparkle stories & my new roots, via amanda kapousouz