A couple notes before we begin. The keys to successful butter-making are temperature and acidity. Never try making butter from cold, fresh cream. It will not separate. If you use room-temperature fresh cream, you'll end up with very soft butter that is hard to gather into a ball. Best to use either fresh cream that has sat on the counter for about 5 hours (for sweet cream butter), or sat on the counter for 2-3 days until it is acidifying and thickening into sour cream (for cultured butter). My favorite is the cultured butter, but if your taste buds are accustomed to highly salted pasteurized white storebought butter, take your time to adjust and enjoy some sweet cream butter from your own raw cow cream. It will sour over time if you leave it out, or stay sweet if you refrigerate between uses. Real butter can last for an extremely long time if prepared on clean equipment, is salted, and all the buttermilk thoroughly rinsed out.
Start with a kitchen aid mixer and a half gallon of raw Jersey cream.
You'll need the plastic guard to go around the outside of the bowl, and a clean towel to prevent splashes.
Mix on 8 or 10 speed until it turns to whipped cream. Then you know you're close.
In just a minute or so, the butterfat will separate, and you'll see golden butter floating in buttermilk.
Pour buttermilk through a strainer into a separate container for use elsewhere.
And voila! Put your butter into another bowl.
Rinse with cold, cold water while kneading out the buttermilk.
Once the water runs clear, add a couple dashes of salt, to taste. Knead it into the butter - the salt will draw out more moisture which you will need to pour off.
Form your beautiful butterball and wrap in plastic.
Use right away, refrigerate, or freeze for long-term use. :D
Enjoy some toast with your butter... :P
4 comments:
I never would have thought of doing it in the kitchenaid! What a stroke of genius! Now we won't burn our blender to the ground making butter! :D
Aha! Genius is a rare occurrence for me, and I was also happy to find that it works much better than the blender method :D
Happy butter-making, Sarah :D
One of my most precious childhood memories is of making butter in an old-fashioned hand-cranked butter churn. Nothing tastes better than homemade butter! : )
Thank you for your butter-making advice. I'm eager to try out your method this weekend!
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