How to Make Butter
During the old times, making butter was a difficult chore, because people had to churn to make their own. Today, you can simply buy some from the grocery. Homemade butter is very tasty, though, and will help you save some cash. Here’s how to make butter at home.
What You’ll Need:
A container of heavy cream
Bowl
Refrigerator
Electric mixer
Blender
Cold water
Spoon
Clean cloth
Salt (optional)
Dried herbs or crushed garlic for flavoring (optional)
Cling film or grease proof paper
Procedure:
Buy your heavy cream. It’s best to get a plain one, without any sugar in it. Make sure you get plenty of cream, since the amount of butter you’ll make is smaller than the amount of cream you’ll be using. For example, a gallon of cream will make only three pounds of butter.
butter making
Before you proceed to butter making, chill a bowl in your fridge. It’s best to use a large bowl, since your cream will be expanding with the air, before it becomes butter.
Let your cream sit in the kitchen, letting it warm down to room temperature.
Take out the chilled bowl and pour the cream in it. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream, until its consistency becomes stiff. As you go along, slow the mixer down. You’ll see the cream going through several stages before it turns into butter: the frothy milk stage, the whipped cream stage, the break stage (where it will look very dry), then the breakdown stage.
The breakdown stage is the most important phase, since this is where the air cells collapse to make butter, turning the cream to butter and buttermilk. Keep whipping, but lower the speed, or the mixture will fly all over the place. When you get the buttery mixture, taste it. If it still doesn’t taste like butter, whip it some more.
Drain the buttermilk. You can use this for cooking or baking. If you have a cat, pour some in her dish.
After draining, you need to wash away the excess buttermilk clinging onto the butter, or else it will go rancid very quickly. Put the butter in a blender, along with cold water. Using cold water is important, because hot will melt the butter, and make it drain away.
Put your blender on low speed for a minute. Drain the water after. If it’s not clear, add more cold water, then repeat. You might need to do seven or more washings.
Not all of the water will be gone from the butter, even after you drain it. Use the back of the spoon or your hands to press the butter and get the excess water out of it. Putting it on a clean cloth before pressing also helps.
You can put the butter in your freezer, and it can be used for at least three months. If you plan to freeze it. Don’t salt it anymore, or else the flavor will become too strong. Freezing enhances saltiness. If you’re not going to freeze it, then it’s okay to add salt.
Add in dried herbs or crushed garlic, so you can have flavored butter. Mix thoroughly.
Shape the butter, using either a box or a roll shape. Wrap it in cling film or grease proof paper.
Creamy butter melting on warm bread tastes good, especially if you made it yourself. Follow these steps, and you’ll have butter that tastes delicious and homey.