Cultured Butter
I made this with a good fried of mine recently, and I’ve been kind of obssessed since. I want to melt it over popcorn, I want to slather it on bread, I want to spread it over pancakes, waffles, and french toast, it’s just so magical. Sweet cream butter almost tastes bland to me now. And guess what, it’s easy peasy to make. All you need is some yogurt or buttermilk, cream, and a pinch of salt.
I feel like I keep writing every recipe is easy to do, but I still get comments from friends about how everything I do seems so complicated. But truly, this is as easy as it gets! You have to give it a try. If the culturing part is too intimidating, skip that step and make sweet cream butter first. (But please eventually try the cultures butter. Because yum.)
All you have to do is culture your cream (more on that in the recipe), dump it in your food processor or stand mixer, and let it go until you get whipped cream that breaks and turns into curds and whey. Another perk to homemade cultured butter vs sweet cream butter is that with cultured butter, the whey is buttermilk. Yup, the kind you use in biscuits. So, you get 2 awesome ingredients out of 1. Fantastic, right?
(1) Whip your cultured cream in your food processor or stand mixer until it separates into butter curds and buttermilk. (2, 3, 4) Drain your butter. (5) Reserve the buttermilk. (6, 7, 8) Using a rubber spatula, press the butter against the side of the bowl, squeezing out more butter milk. Keep squeezing and pouring out the buttermilk. You want to get as much out as you can or it’ll go rancid a lot faster. (9) Season the butter with a pinch of fine sea salt. (10, 11) Place the butter on a large piece of parchment paper. (12) Pull the paper over the top of the butter, and (13, 14) using a ruler or bench scraper, push the base of the butter until you push it into a neat log shape. (15) Twist the ends shut and refrigerate.
- 1 quart heavy cream, not ultra-pasteurized, and prefeably from grass-fed cows
- 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt with live active cultures or cultured buttermilk
- large pinch of fine sea salt, optional
- In a large glass jar (I prefer a 1/2 gallon size), combine the cream and yogurt or buttermilk. Close with a lid with a good seal and shake until well combined. Remove the lid and cover the mouth of the jar with a piece of cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Leave on the countertop for 18 to 48 hours, or in a cold environment, even up to 60 hours.
- Once the cream is thickened to a yogurt consistency, pour half into the bowl of a food processor and run the processor until the butter and buttermilk separate. Strain the butter and reserve the buttermilk for another use.
- Using a rubber spatula, press the butter against the side of the bowl and squeeze out more buttermilk. Repeat until little to no butter milk comes out. Sprinkle the butter with salt, if using, and fold to combine.
- Place the butter onto a sheet of parchment paper and roll into a log. Repeat with second half of the cream.
- This butter freezes well and will last in the freezer for about 4 months.
Sam @ The Klutzy Cook
December 7, 2015
It always amazes me how a few simple ingredients can quite easily be turned into something so good. I’ve tried making butter before, but not a ‘cultured’ version. I look forward to trying it. Thanks 🙂
Lillian
December 13, 2015
I completely agree! The creative process behind food really gets me excited. So glad to know you share that with me. Please let me know how your cultured butter turns out. Thanks for visiting!