Making my own butter! (merged)

thriftlady_2

Have you noticed how many recipes that call for unsalted butter include a pinch of salt in the ingredients

leonie_2

Lol will you lot stop buying all the butter patters on ebay, I cant get any :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

comping_cat

I really must try this, im sure the children will love it too!!!! must look on ebay for the magically disappearing butter patters to help tho!!!
Catherine x

Ruby_Pudding

I did it, I did it, I made my own butter!!! I was a bit apprehensive as I don't have a Kenwood Chef or any kind of food processor (have world's smallest kitchen that just won't take another appliance) so was a bit worried it would takes hours by hand but it was so easy!

I used a fairly big pickled onion jar left over from Christmas (and washed out of course ) and filled it a third full of double cream which had been taken out of the fridge about half an hour before. Then I settled down in front of the TV for what I thought might be about 40 mins of shaking but it took just about 11 minutes in all. For the first 7/8 mins absolutely nothing happened but then the cream started to come away from the sides of the jar. After another 2 mins of shaking the cream suddenly formed one huge yellow lump inside the jar - I kept shaking and after another minute or so the buttermilk started seperating from the butter. After another 30/40 secs the jar was about 1/3 full of buttermilk which I emptied into a little glass (to keep for making scones ), then I kept shaking and emptying the jar another 5/6 times until hardly any buttermilk was being released. Then I ran the butter under the cold tap, squeezing as much as I could - you could see there was still some buttermilk inside because the butter was kind of 'sweating' but I think I managed to get as much as I could out after about a minute. Then, I popped the butter onto a bread board and patted it into some sort of oblong shape with 2 wooden spoons for about 30 seconds or so, sprinkling a little salt over it as I'd read this was the stage that you added the salt if required. Lastly, I wrapped the oblong in greaseproof paper and put it into the fridge as I could see that the butter was just starting to melt. I poured all the buttermilk I had managed to save (about 1/3 pint) into a bag and put into the freezer for a later date.

I let the butter settle for as long as I could stand it - 10 mins - and then had some on freshly baked bread. Ooooh it was GOOD!!!

I would say that from a 200ml carton of double cream I made a block of butter about 8 inches long and 1 inch deep/wide. Not the greatest amount I know but I only had a medium sized jar and at least I know that it works now so I can make more in future. I'm going to experiment and see how it works if I add a bit of salt in with cream at the beginning so it get's fully mixed in. If that works I might try and add garlic or chilli flakes at the beginning too so I have a ready supply of speciality butters that I can freeze and use a bit at a time.

Sorry for going on, just wanted to share cos I'm so excited I actually did it!

RP

Mr_Proctalgia

I discovered that a quick way to wash your butter is to use a bowl of water and a potato masher, a couple of changes of water (with the last change being really cold) does it well and leaves an easily formable block of butter.

Oh - A question for the experts if I may? My butter is really really hard even at room temp, soooooo, I have been looking at shop bought butter for inspiration and they all seem to say "Butterfat Content 80% Salt 2%" What is the other 18% then? None of the branded butters say what it is and they are all definately softer than mine.

Alfietinker

Come to think of it, I notices mine was a little hard - I'll be listening eagerly

halloweenqueen_2

Bought a whacking great tub of cheap cream, just as we'd run out of homemade butter - hee hee, I sat on the settee and laid the jar on a newspaper and rolled it to and fro with my feet so I still managed to read, must have done some muscles somewhere some good!

Ruby_Pudding

Mr_Proctalgia wrote:

I discovered that a quick way to wash your butter is to use a bowl of water and a potato masher, a couple of changes of water (with the last change being really cold) does it well and leaves an easily formable block of butter.

Do you actually MASH the butter to extract the buttermilk then? (Apologies if obvious question )

Mr_Proctalgia

Yup Ruby, I literally mash the new butter underwater (just tepid) to remove the last dregs of buttermilk, finish off with really cold water then roll and form the butter on a clean tea towel to dry it, no it does't stick if the butter is firm and it gets nice and dry.

Hope this clarifies things for you (pun intended) LOL

rchddap1

haven't tried this yet....but am very tempted. Might take a trip down to sainsburys every now and then to see if I can find any cheap (ie, discounted) double cream.