No buttermilk :(

sparklylime

Hi,

Wondered if any ladies or gents with some baking experience might be able to help me.

I'd like to make some blueberry muffins and have everything needed in the recipe except for buttermilk :mad: Had a look on google for buttermilk substitutes and found tips to add white vinegar, lemon juice, cream of tartar or yoghurt to ordinary milk but I don't have any of these at home either And since its half eight I've missed the shops now.

Anyways - do you think I could just use milk on its own? I have semi-skimmed if that makes any difference? Or would it not work? Don't wan't to waste the ingrediants I have if milk wouldn't do the trick

So if anyone can help I'd be very grateful!!

You can probably tell I'm new to this baking malarky!!

charliee_3

you could make some butter? get whole milk, put it in a jar and shake it till it turns to butter.. the liquid that is left is buttermilk!!

charliee_3

hmm you only have semi skimmed.. might work?? or you could find a muffin recipe without buttermilk, i never do..

sparklylime

I made butter once this way before but with full fat stuff - tipped the liquidy bit down the sink though...ooops!

WendysWorld

What raising agent are you using - do you use self-raising flour for recipe (which has baking powder in it) or plain+baking powder? If so, then ordinary milk should be fine. However, if the raising agent is baking soda, then you will need the acidic buttermilk or lemon juice/vinegar/cream of tartare to create the right chemical reaction to raise the muffins.

BMx

ChocClare

The buttermilk that they use in American muffin recipes can be made at home by adding a tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of ordinary milk and letting it stand for 5 minutes. This acidulates the milk which is the effect you're looking for.

Edited to add: Oops, just noticed you already knew that. I'll shut up now...

sparklylime

I was going to use plain flour + baking powder. My recipe is blueberry and almond muffins from Rachels Food for Living book (Rachel Allen) I just bought it t'other day and there are lots of yummy sounding recipes to tempt me

Decided to leave it for tonight though and I'll buy a lemon tomorrow to make some buttermilk.

angeltreats

Sometimes when I've had no buttermilk I've used natural yoghurt instead - it seems to do the trick as it's also acidic.

It seems to be really hard to get hold of buttermilk these days. Not all the supermarkets stock it and those that do always seem to have sold out.