How to make homemade butter

Making your own homemade butter is as easy as having fresh cream and 10 or 12 minutes. Nothing more. No additives or preservatives. I'm sure you're curious to see how you can do it, because enjoying the delicious butter you've prepared in the morning makes the day start twice as happy!

Eva, author ofBake-Street , tells us how to prepare a delicious homemade butter, and also some tricks if you want to flavor it.

Olive wood board with knife from Bérard

Making homemade products is undoubtedly very rewarding, but it is even more so when ingredients that we consume daily, such as butter, are within our reach in just a few minutes.

Evolution and progress are good, they allow us to reduce the time we spend on our daily tasks and make our path much easier. But it is also true that when we create with our hands, following an artisanal process, the feeling that surrounds the result is much more endearing and I would even dare say romantic.

It is a time when we transform food to create with natural ingredients that will accompany us in our daily lives, knowing well what it is made with and knowing the entire process from start to finish.

That's why the moment I saw this butter dish from L. Tellier I instantly fell in love. I felt like I was transported back to my childhood, remembering everything our grandmother did for her grandchildren, dedicating her time, effort and love... without a doubt they were the best snacks of my life.

The handling of this butter churn is very simple, with simple movements of the crank we will enjoy homemade butter in just a few minutes. Its internal paddle speeds up the process much more than if we used a whisk.

The final texture will be different from the one we usually buy in stores, the main difference is that the commercial one has 80% fat with 15% water (not counting all the additives to improve its flavor, color...) and the one we make at home will have 65% fat versus 30% water, it will be more watery, as well as being more solid than the commercial one.

The final result will be softer, its aroma will remind us of fresh cream and it will be very healthy for us. Not to mention that it will have come from our hands. Now, let's see how to make this homemade butter and learn how to flavor it for certain preparations.

INGREDIENTS TO OBTAIN 125 G OF BUTTER

• 400 ml of fresh cream or cream with a fat content between 35-38% cold

ELABORATION

Pour the cold cream into the glass container of the butter churn and place the lid with the crank, making sure to close it tightly.

We start to turn the crank, holding the upper part to prevent it from sliding on the work surface. As we turn it we will see how the cream begins to whip. The higher its fat content, the quicker it will whip and the greater the quantity we will obtain.

Tellier butter making machine

Once the cream is completely whipped, we will continue to turn the crank. Our aim is to over-beat it to separate the fatty part from the whey. This step will sound familiar to you if you have ever had cream curd at home when you were preparing to whip it.

Through the glass we can observe how its texture changes, although if you prefer you can open the churn to observe how its texture evolves.

As we continue to beat the cream, once it is whipped, there will come a point where the fat globules, protected by membranes of fatty acids and proteins, will break down and allow the fats to unify.

In this step we will obtain a texture with a cut appearance. On one side we will have the solids and on the other side the buttermilk.

We will know when we have obtained the right texture because it will be very difficult to turn the crank. The time to beat manually will take us around 10-12 minutes.

We proceed to strain the whey to keep the solid. We place a fine sieve over a bowl, pour both ingredients into it, using a spatula , and let the whey drain well.

To remove as much whey as possible from the butter, press down on the sieve with your hands. Remove the butter from it and mix the solids well, forming a ball between your hands.

Note: If you want to make a salty butter, this is the time to add the salt, preferably flaked and sea salt, such as Guérande Fleur de Sel .
The quantity would be 1g of salt for every 50g of butter.

We wash the butter in cold water, dry it with absorbent paper and place it in a butter mold or we can shape it.

If we choose the latter option, we will place the butter on a sheet of cling film, roll it up like a candy and turn it on the table to give it a rounded shape. We can do this with our hands if we want, but this way the surface will be more uniform.

We keep it in the fridge for at least 1 hour. We take it out and we can serve it on a board like this one made of olive wood from Bérard , accompanying delicious breads, grissinis…

Would you like to be able to flavor your butters?

The process to follow is very simple. Once we have beaten the butter and separated the solids from the whey, it is time to add the ingredients with which we want to flavour it.

I'll leave you with a couple of ideas to accompany appetizers, toast, enrich doughs or even cook fish or meat with it.

Lemon and cilantro butter:
• 125gr of homemade butter
• zest of a lemon
• 8gr of finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 2g of flaked salt
• pinch of pink pepper

Orange Cinnamon Butter:
• 125 g of homemade butter
• zest of one orange
• ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

The preparation process is the same as we followed previously. Once we have separated the solids, washed and dried the butter, we proceed to integrate the rest of the ingredients that will give flavour to our butter.

We store it in a container or by shaping it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it.

Its shelf life is shorter than that of commercial butters. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.