Butter is one of those things that is probably easier to buy at the store, but cultured butter is surprisingly hard to find nowadays. Good news is that it is very easy to make and it is also a very fun process.
The best way I can describe cultured butter is that it is a buttery butter. We introduce live cultures into our cream and ferment it before churning which allows the it to develop a tangy, nutty, and more complex flavour profile. It is a super beginner friendly fermentation recipe and a great way to introduce a fun hands on project into your week.
This butter is best eaten and not used for baking as most recipes are developed using uncultured butter.
Yield: 2 logs of butter, each ~150g
INGREDIENTS:
Rule of thumb: the amount of yogurt should be 10% of the cream’s total volume
- 600ml Double Cream
- 60g Plain Yogurt with live cultures (you can also use buttermilk or kefir – as long as it has live cultures for fermentation)
- Salt
STEPS:
- Combine cream and yogurt in a bowl, gently mix until it’s well combined. Cover it with a towel and leave it at room temperature to ferment for 24-48hrs
- After fermentation, you will have made crème fraîche. It’ll have a thick scoop-able cream texture
- Place it into the fridge for 2hrs so that it is cold
- Grab an electronic mixer and whisk until it goes from a smooth cream, to a grainy textured cream, and then the butter will split from the buttermilk and you’ll arrive at butter. Keep whisking until the butter stops producing buttermilk
- Pour the buttermilk into a separate container and save this for other recipes
- Place the ball of butter into a bowl of ice water and knead it to remove the remaining buttermilk. Change the water a few times and continue to knead the butter. Once the water stays clear, you can transfer the butter onto a dry surface
- Knead and press the butter to squeeze out the remaining water
- Mix in salt to taste
- Divide the butter in to 2 and wrap them separately in parchment paper and store in the fridge for 2-4 weeks