Homemade Cultured Butter Food

HOMEMADE CULTURED BUTTER

Steps:

• Combine cream and yogurt in a large jar or bowl. Seal jar well and shake aggressively until combined, or whisk well if using a bowl. Cover jar or bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let mixture sit in a warm area of your kitchen for 18 to 36 hours; it should thicken and taste rich and tangy.
• Seal the jar or cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it reaches 60 degrees, 1 to 2 hours. If you refrigerate it longer, allow mixture to warm slightly at room temperature before proceeding.
• Line a fine-mesh sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl. Make sure there is plenty of extra overhang of cheesecloth.
• In the bowl of a food processor, add the thickened butter mixture and process on high until the yellow curds begin to separate from the buttermilk, 2 to 3 minutes. It will have the appearance of liquidy cottage cheese.
• Slowly pour the buttermilk through the mesh sieve and then dump the butter curds in. Let sit for 1 to 2 minutes, allowing buttermilk to drip through. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth up and around the butter, pushing the curds down and into a ball. Twist the cheesecloth and squeeze the ball to extract as much buttermilk as possible. You will be left with a butterball.
• Pour the buttermilk into a separate container and reserve for another use. Place the butterball in the empty bowl. Be sure to squeeze out all excess butter from the cheesecloth. Pour 1/3 cup of ice water over the butter and, using a spatula, "wash" the butter, folding it over itself and pressing down to extract the extra buttermilk. Drain off the milky liquid and discard it; repeat this process until the liquid is clear, 4 to 6 times. The butter will start to harden; at that point your hands may work better than the spatula.
• Place the butter on a clean kitchen towel and pat lightly to remove excess moisture. Knead a few times with your hands and pat dry again; this will help extend its storage life. Sprinkle the finished butter with salt and knead a few more times to combine.
• Lay out a sheet of parchment paper, or two if you would like to divide the batch in half, and place the butter on the paper. Form the butter into a log and then roll it up in the paper and twist the ends to seal. Make sure the log has a uniform thickness throughout. Refrigerate until ready to use. The butter will last about a month in the refrigerator.

HOMEMADE CULTURED BUTTER

Steps:

• Whisk cream and buttermilk in a large bowl. Cover loosely with plastic and let sit at room temperature until thickened and tastes tangy, at least 12 hours and up to 36 hours (how long this takes will depend on the temperature of your kitchen). Chill until crème fraîche is cool, about 2 hours.
• Transfer crème fraîche to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Cover space between top of bowl and head of mixer with plastic wrap (this is a must, unless you want cream all over your kitchen). Beat on high speed until butterfat has separated and starts to clump around bottom of whisk, about 5 minutes.
• Line a fine-mesh sieve with cheesecloth. Strain butter mixture through sieve into a small bowl. Pull cheesecloth tightly over butter and form into a ball. Squeeze to drain any excess buttermilk; reserve buttermilk for another use.
• Transfer butter to a clean bowl and knead, adding a few tablespoons of ice water at a time. Drain water off butter as it becomes cloudy; repeat 3-4 times (the water you drain off should become clearer each time). Continue to knead until no liquid remains. Transfer butter to an airtight container or roll into parchment-wrapped logs. Wrap in plastic and chill until ready to use. Serve with sea salt, if desired.
• Do Ahead
• Butter can be made 2 weeks ahead; keep chilled, or freeze up to 3 months.

HOMEMADE CULTURED BUTTER

Steps:

• Begin by culturing your cream (this is an overnight process, so plan accordingly). In a clean glass or ceramic container (bowl, jar, etc) combine the cream and yogurt, crème fraîche or buttermilk. Cover loosely and place it in a warmish part of the house - the ideal temperature is around 75F (23C), but anywhere in the range from 70-80F (20-26C) is okay.
• After 12-18 hours, the cream should be noticeably thicker and should taste slightly tangy, i.e. like crème fraîche. If it's bubbling and gassy, some unwanted bacteria have gotten in there so discard your cream and start again (note that this has never happened to me). If it hasn't thickened yet, leave it alone for another few hours and eventually it will. When your cream has thickened, if you are not ready to make your butter right away, transfer the container to the fridge where you can leave it for up to another 24 hours.
• In order to churn properly, the cream needs to be at about 60F (15C). If you're taking it out of the fridge just let it warm up until it reaches this temperature; if you're making it from room temperature you'll need to place the bowl in a bath of ice water for a few minutes to cool it down. Also, fill a large bowl with water and ice cubes and keep it handy.
• You can use any method you want to beat the cream; handheld electric beater, stand mixer, etc - even whisking by hand. Basically, just put the thickened cream in a clean, deep bowl and start beating as if you're making whipped cream. When the cream starts to form stiff peaks, reduce the speed to low. At this point watch carefully; first the peaks will start to look grainy, and a few seconds later the cream will break. When it does you'll know it - globules of yellow butterfat will be swimming in a sea of buttermilk, and if you're beating too fast you'll have buttermilk everywhere. Stop beating and carefully tilt the bowl over a cup, holding back the butter clumps as best you can, and drain away as much buttermilk as possible. You can use this just like commercial buttermilk, by the way, and it's delicious.
• Now you have to wash the butter to get rid of all the residual buttermilk, which would cause it to spoil prematurely. Using a fork (my preferred implement) or a stiff rubber spatula, pour some of your reserved icewater over the butter, kneading and stirring it around vigorously. The water will turn whitish and the butter will firm up, making it cohere and knead more easily. Pour out the liquid and repeat as many times as needed until the water sloshing around in your bowl is completely clear. After you've poured off the last of the liquid, continue kneading for a few more minutes to get as much water as possible out of the butter. If you want salted butter, add your favorite salt now, to taste.
• You've now got a generous supply of your very own cultured butter. Pack it into ramekins, roll it in waxed paper, or fill cute little molds with it before refrigerating; I recommend freezing some if you won't be able to finish what you've made within a week or so. Whether storing it in the fridge or freezer, though, keep it tightly covered, as butter is a sponge for other aromas.

HOME-CHURNED BUTTER

Steps:

• Pour the cream into a jar with a clean marble inside. Screw the lid on tightly. Shake the jar continuously for 5 mins (you can take turns shaking with someone else). The movement of the marble acts as a whisk and helps the butter to churn. You can do it without the marble, it just takes longer. At first the cream will thicken to whipped cream, then it will get even thicker. After about 5 mins you will hear sloshing in the jar - give it a few more vigorous shakes, and that's the butter churned.
• Scrape out the contents into a sieve sitting over a bowl - the liquid that drains out is buttermilk (which can be kept and used for baking or in pancakes), and the fatty solid in the sieve is the butter.
• With clean hands, squeeze the butter between your fingers over the sieve to squeeze out any more buttermilk, while working it into a ball. 'Wash' the butter in a bowl of ice-cold water to get rid of any residual buttermilk.
• To make brandy butter, beat the sugar and a small pinch of salt into the butter, then work in the brandy 1 tbsp at a time. Will keep in the fridge for up to one week.