Homemade Butter
- April 9, 2005
- Recipes, Savory Snacks, Dips and Sauces
- 14 comments
What could be more enjoyable than creamy butter spread onto a nice piece of good bread? Homemade butter made from the best cream you can possibly find spread onto a nice piece of good bread.
This morning was devoted to butter making. And by “devoted to” I mean to say that I poured some heavy cream into my stand mixer, put on the whisk attachment and beat it on medium-high for about 20 minutes. I watched TV during this time. Then I squeezed the butter until dry in some cheesecloth. Then I ate some (on a cracker, if you’re curious) and put the rest into the fridge. Delightfully buttery and creamy – which isn’t wholly surprising, since it was actually butter.
For this particular batch of butter, I used raw milk from Organic Pastures Dairy. What is raw cream? It is cream that hasn’t been pasteurized, homogenized or had any other processing done to it. Pasteurization involves heating milk to 161 degrees F, hot enough to denature the enzymes that cause spoilage and kill any harmful bacteria. While I certainly wouldn’t use any old raw dairy products, Organic Pastures has been producing a very high quality product for years and is available at several markets in my area.
That said, you can easily make butter with pasteurized cream (regular pasteurized is preferable to ultrapasteurized in this case). Butter made this way will have a neutral flavor to it, so I find it to be slightly better for baking, and the butter will keep much longer than one made with raw cream. Pasteurized cream is also much more widely available and is much less expensive than raw milk. In fact, if you make butter with regular cream at home, it may actually turn out to be less expensive than buying butter – and it’s a lot of fun, too!
Butter
2 cups heavy cream
Pour cream into a stand mixer, put on the whisk attachment and beat it on medium-high for about 20 minutes. There will be yellow clumps sticking to the whisk and/or floating in liquid when beating is complete. Strain into a container over cheesecloth. Using the cheesecloth, squeeze the butter until dry. Discard remaining liquid.
Yield: Approx. 1 cup butter
Note: To make salted butter, add 1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt (to taste) the the butter right at the end of mixing before you squeeze the butter.
14 Comments
MmmmMMmMmmm, ingredients.
Great idea! Thanks for the easy instructions. I have a stand mixer and a tv, so I guess I too can make butter. Good post.
How very industrious of you! I never thought to make such a simple, delightful ingredient. What are you going to do with the buttermilk?
Biggles – Yes, ingredients can be useful from time to time.
Caryn – Thanks! And I found the TV to be vital to buttermaking.
Nosh – Thank you. I was thinking of making a loaf of bread, but I’m leaning towards muffins… Once it’s ripe it’ll keep in the fridge, so I still have some time to think about it.
I really have to give this a try! It looks and sounds much better than old, rectangular slabs of supermarket butter.
Alice – I think it tastes great, although I know there is a small bias towards loving something when you’ve made it yourself.
Yay for butter, nay to margarine. Atleast in my kitchen!
Funny thing that I saw your comment at my place—I had been wanting to try that Spicy Blackberry BBQ Sauce for the longest time and actually picked up some fresh blackberries over the weekend. I had to check back with your recipe to see which kind of meat you served it with; although I had already bought a kilo of pork ribs. In any case, I’m looking forward to trying that recipe. And whittling down the list of great recipes that I’ve amassed from all the food bloggers out there!
How and when can you add salt it you wanted to make salted butter? Also does it matter the type of salt that you add?
mmmmm sounds SO good.
the last time *I* made butter, it was by putting the ingredients in a container and making my nephews roll it back & forth for … a lot longer than 20 minutes.
it’s illegal to serve margarine in restaurants in wisconsin. just thought i’d add that. i think i might make some butter now… yum, butter on crackers, i’m drooling.
Initially I thought I had made something a bit like cream cheese and I’d do better next time, but within a couple of hours the butter had taken on a reassuring yellowish tint and firmed up nicely.
sounds like something worth a try.
Do you have to use a standing mixer?
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hi
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good luck