Homemade Butter

I've been wanting to try making my own butter for awhile now, and finally got the nudge I needed. I added a pint of whipping cream to my weekly dairy delivery, Monday morning it arrived, and as soon as the kids were home from school (they wanted to help), we got started.

Pour cream into mixer, and mix on low/medium (however fast you can get it without splashing over the sides). Once it starts to thicken you can increase the speed a little. Soon, it will start to look like whipped cream. I stopped at this point and scraped the sides of the bowl to make sure everything was getting whipped.

Every time I make whipped cream, I worry about whipping it too long, and wondered what would happen. Now I know. The smooth creaminess starts to break down and form clumps.

Then the buttermilk will begin to separate from fat.

Then the butter will be fully stuck together. Pour off the buttermilk and save it for something else. Add a cup or so of cold water and mix on low. Drain and repeat until the liquid coming off is clear. This ensures the butter is clean and will not go rancid. Once all the liquid is drained off, you can add salt, garlic, herbs, or even honey to make whatever kind of butter you want. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge or in a butter bell on the counter. If you keep it in the fridge, it gets pretty hard, and you'll want to set it out to soften before you try spreading it on bread.

I didn't take any pictures of the rinsing, salting or of the finished product, because I had to run an errand, and my Mister finished the project for me.

One pint of cream gives 1 cup of butter (equal to 1/2 lb or 2 sticks) and 1 cup of buttermilk. I've read that when using pasteurized cream, you should treat the buttermilk more like whole milk in recipes. If you want it to be more like buttermilk you can add a little lemon juice. OR, before you make the butter, you can add a TBSP or so of real buttermilk to the cream.

I'm making bread today, so I'll update on the taste once we have fresh bread to eat it with.