And Then There Was ----Butter!
Last week a friend send me a Facebook link about 50 things that a person can make instead of buying. I have seen sites like this before and, upon reading, find that I do a lot of these things already. However, this particular site listed something that I remember doing as a child but never thought of revisiting -- making butter. I am sorry I didn't take photos so you will just have to use your imagination.
The site said to use a stand mixer, add a quart of heavy whipping cream and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. They also gave directions for grating a carrot and straining the juice into milk to add for color but I omitted this step. They also heartily advised covering the mixer with a towel to deal with the splashing and they weren't exaggerating.
So, in went the cream and salt, mixer on high (although I don't think it needed to be quite so high) and off we went to make butter. I can't tell you how long it actually took because I stopped the machine at the whipped cream stage to look at that beautiful whipped cream. Then I continued on until I heard the bumping noise made by the clump of butter in the bottom of the bowl.
I then followed the instructions to put the lump of butter in a colander or a strainer over a bowl and pour off the buttermilk to save for baking in the next day or two. I then pressed the butter under cold, running water to get rid of any remaining buttermilk and then placed it in a covered pyrex dish.
It was beautiful! And, a quart of cream makes about a pound of butter. I was thrilled. I still am, actually.
The next morning I used the buttermilk to make biscuits with White Lily self rising flour. They were so fluffy -- I couldn't believe the difference.
So, now in addition to making our bread, I am now making our butter. Will I do it again? Yes, probably so. I looked at the various packages of butter in our refrigerator and while most of them said "cream and salt", all of them said "coloring". They were specific about what that mean so I think that my home-grown butter is probably a better choice.
Next time I will take photos.
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4 comments:
A winning combination homemade bread and butter! I would love to see photos of the process when you make it again. Do you taste a difference between your butter and store-purchased butter? I'm inspired and will have to give this a try myself:)
Bonnie -- it was a great, fun project for me and the 4 year old Bean. I wish I had taken photos but I was busy trying to keep from having to clean the ceiling of splatters! It turned out lovely, we are still eating it -- supposedly it will stay fresh in the fridge for a month which makes sense since most butter does. As far as a difference in taste -- well, yes and no. It is a bit less salty but not salt - free and it tastes "cleaner" which I am sure is in my imagination. Fresher, maybe? Anyway, it was so easy and so much fun and I can't imagine not doing it again. If you do it, don't dismiss the towel, though, it really does splatter. Have fun!
Oh how wonderful the Bean was there to enjoy your butter making! I can imagine it would be fresher and tastier than what you'd find in the store. I will definitely give this a try--and will remember the towel as well :)
Actually, I am going to make it again and use a butter mold to make it more of a manageable shape. We are still eating on the original so it does make a large amount -- you don't realize how much a pound of butter is when it comes in the little sticks. Next time I will take photos and show the process which is actually no process at all! Just fun!
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