Making Butter

What goes best with good bread? Many would say good butter. So out of interest I set about making some.

Being a baker, it seemed  natural to incorporate a lactic ferment, so cultured butter was the order of the day.

It went something like this:

• 523g double/heavy cream (not uht/up)
• 30g cultured buttermilk
• ferment at 27C
• initial pH 6.26
• target fermentation time 24hrs
• target pH 4.40-5.0
• however pH after 12hrs was already 4.47 and the ferment was thick; it tasted fine, so I called it a do and chilled overnight in the fridge

In the morning I churned in the Kenwood Major with the K beater on speed 1, for a low shear rate.

Churning took just under 5 mins, until the butter separated. I drained off the butter in a sieve and churned again on lowest speed for 1 min.

Drained again, squeezed into a ball and then kneaded by hand under cold water to expel  the buttermilk.

Then shape as required.

Yield 280g

A very tasty end product; not something to do often, as little if any financial advantage (but neither has most breadmaking), but an interesting excercise, none the less.

Lance