Have you ever made butter?
It’s ridiculously easy!
…..Even without electricity.
All you need is some room temperature heavy cream. Pour it into the butter churn and turn the crank, and in a few (and I mean few!) minutes you have homemade butter.
Watch the video to see it done in real time!!
You don’t have to run out and buy a butter churn, although it would be undoubtedly money well spent – I can honestly say I don’t have any regrets.
Actually, truth be told, I bought the one I’m using for today’s show as more of a decoration for The Self Reliant Living Show set. I really wanted to show you how easy it is to make butter in my Bosch mixer.
However, while doing a comparison test before the show I was blown away at how fast the hand crank butter churn works. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Bosch and it is my go-to bread making mixer, and it does make butter. Here are a few pictures I took while making butter in the Bosch.
Add cream.
Using the whipping attachment, set the mixer on medium.
Wait 3 or 4 minutes….butter…
Hank cranked butter churn
I asked my son Josh (watch the video to see him helping me) to crank one pint of cream until it turned into butter. I thought it would take 30 minutes or longer. About 5 minutes later he came to me saying it was done. I was stunned and so amazed….no electricity, no tired arm, no loud mixer noise….it’s magical.
Well, it’s science, but I’m one of those people who thinks science is super cool–even cooler than magic.
The science of butter…
Milk is a “colloid,” a substance in which small, insoluble particles are suspended throughout another substance. In this case, those particles are little droplets of fat distributed in a water-based solution. If fresh, un-homogenized milk is left undisturbed, the lighter-than-water fat globules will eventually float to the top and gather together, where they can be skimmed away from the “skim milk” left on the bottom.
When you start to whip, you’re introducing air, and the fat globules start to stick together and surround the air bubbles, making whipped cream.
If you continue to whip, more fat globules stick together and their membranes break. This causes even more of them to clump together, and they release the air bubbles they have been holding. As the air escapes, the liquid that was being held in separates from the solid mass of butterfat.
In this show I used an actual butter churn, then you saw my pictures above of using my Bosch. You can also use a food processor. You can even use a Mason jar, just pour in the cream and shake. You can see me and my boys do it step by step here.
Once you have made butter you will want to separate the buttermilk from the butter. Pour it off into another jar and save it to use in recipes.
Then if you’d like your butter to keep for more than a few days you’ll want to “wash” or rinse the butter with some water. Ice water works best because since you’ve used room temperature cream and the butter has been agitated it’s warm. If you use cold water the butter will stay together better since you’re cooling it down. Rinse and then pour off the water. Repeat until the water is clear. It should take 3 or 4 rinses.
At this point you can add salt if you’d like to have salted butter.
But you can add more than just salt….
Sweet Vanilla Cream Spread (in the Instant Pot)
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup honey
3/4 lb butter (or 3 sticks)
1 tsp vanilla
Place sugar, heavy cream, honey, and vanilla into the Instant Pot. Hit the saute button and then hit adjust so that the saute temperature is low. Stir to combine. You can switch to a whisk to whip some air into the mixture. Once the sugar has melted, change the temperature to high by turning the Instant Pot off then hitting the saute button again.
Once you see a few bubbles (not quite boiling) then add the butter. Whisk to add air while the butter melts. There should be a bit of foam on the top. You can remove the foam if you like or you can place the spread in a high power blender. I don’t mind the foam, so I just place the contents in pretty Mason jars and serve with bread.
Garlic Butter
8oz homemade butter (or butter made with 2 pints of cream)
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground paprika
After you’ve rinsed your butter, while it’s still soft add remainder of ingredients. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix until thoroughly combined.
Store both spreads in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
What is your favorite kind of bread to spread butter on? Let me know if you try these recipes. I’d love to know what you think.
