Butter And Buttermilk Food

BUTTER AND BUTTERMILK

Steps:

• Stir together the cream and buttermilk in a bowl and let stand at room temperature to ripen until the mixture becomes thick and sour-smelling (16 to 24 hours). Cover tightly and refrigerate for several hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.
• Place in refrigerator a food processor fitted with the steel blade, 2 metal mixing bowls and a wire-mesh strainer in the refrigerator. Have ready 2 to 3 cups of ice water. (Cold is your friend here, warmth the enemy.) Set up the food processor and add half the cream (or all of it, if you have a machine with at least 11-cup capacity). Leave the rest in the refrigerator. Begin processing and watch closely as the cream thickens and whips. (It will take longer with homogenized and/or ultrapasteurized cream.) Soon after this stage, within a few minutes or even seconds, the cream will start to look less white. As soon as you see it breaking into something slightly granular, stop the machine and take a look. Cautiously proceed until the cream is quite definitely separated into cloudy whitish buttermilk and clumps of ivory or yellow butter.
• Set the strainer over a chilled bowl and dump in the contents of the processor, scraping out any clinging butter particles with a rubber spatula. Put the strainer and bowl in the refrigerator while you repeat the processing with the rest of the cream. Add the second batch of butter to what you have in the strainer. Measure the strained buttermilk, pour it into a storage container and chill in the refrigerator.
• Turn out the butter into another bowl and add roughly as much ice water -- straining out the ice -- as you have buttermilk. Work the butter into a mass with a strong wooden spoon or spatula. Drain off as much liquid as you can and go on working the butter. You will see it becoming smoother and waxier under the spoon, as the butterfat comes together in a continuous mass. When no more liquid seems to be coming out, pat it dry with paper towels, pack it into a small container and promptly refrigerate it, tightly covered.

HOMEMADE BUTTER AND BUTTERMILK

Steps:

• Transfer cream to bowl of 5-quart electric stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Tightly cover top of bowl and mixer with plastic wrap. Beat cream at moderately high speed until it holds soft peaks, 10 to 12 minutes. Increase speed to high and beat until mixture separates into thick, pale-yellow butter and thin, liquid buttermilk, about 5 minutes more.
• Strain mixture through colander into large bowl. Using hands, vigorously knead butter in colander, squeezing out remaining buttermilk, until dense and creamy, about 5 minutes.
• Transfer butter to large bowl, reserving buttermilk. Using hands, knead salt into butter. Roll into logs and wrap in plastic wrap or transfer to airtight container and refrigerate. (Butter will keep up to 1 week refrigerated or 1 month frozen.)
• Strain buttermilk through fine-mesh sieve, then cover and refrigerate up to 1 week.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS WITH BUTTER AND HONEY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.
• In a bowl combine the dry ingredients and blend thoroughly. Cream in the butter with your fingers or a fork, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the buttermilk a little at a time and, using your hands or a fork, work it in just until it's thoroughly incorporated and you have a smooth ball of dough. Don't overwork or over-handle the dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, press the dough out into a round that is about 1-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter or the rim of a drinking glass, press out (2 1/2-inch) rounds; you should get about 7 biscuits. If you like, you can re-roll the leftover dough to make more, but the texture of these will be denser than the others.
• Place the dough rounds on the prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with heavy cream. Grind fresh pepper over top of biscuits, if desired. Bake until golden on top and brown on the bottom, about 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm with butter and a drizzle of honey.

HOMEMADE BUTTER AND BUTTERMILK

Steps:

• Pour the cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk. Tightly cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and start mixer on medium-high speed. The cream will go through the whipped stage, thicken further and then change color from off-white to pale yellow; this will take at least 5 to 8 minutes. When it starts to look pebbly, it's almost done. After another minute the butter will separate, causing the liquid to splash against the plastic wrap. At this point stop the mixer.
• Set a strainer over a bowl. Pour the contents of the mixer into the strainer and let the buttermilk drain through. Strain the buttermilk again, this time through a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl; set aside.
• Keeping the butter in the strainer set over the first bowl, knead it to consolidate the remaining liquid and fat and expel the rest of the buttermilk. Knead until the texture is dense and creamy, about 5 minutes. Strain the excess liquid into the buttermilk. Refrigerate the buttermilk.
• Mix salt into the butter, if you want. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.

HOMEMADE BUTTER AND BUTTERMILK

Steps:

• Pour the cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk.
• Tightly cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap, and start the mixer on medium-high speed.
• The cream will go through the whipped stage, thicken further, and then change color from off-white to pale yellow; this will take at least 5 to 8 minutes. When is starts to look pebbly, it's almost done. After another minute the butter will separate, causing the liquid to splash against the plastic wrap. At this point stop the mixer.
• Set a strainer over a bowl. Pour the contents of the mixer into the strainer and let the buttermilk drain through. Strain the buttermilk again, this time through a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl - set aside.
• Keeping the butter in the strainer set over the first bowl, knewad it to consolidate the reamaining liquid and fat and expel the rest of the buttermilk. Knead until the texture is dense and creamy - about 5 minutes. Strain the excess liquid onto the buttermilk. Refrigerate the buttermilk.
• Mix salt into the butter, if you want. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.