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Homemade Butter

Cream churned into butter in a stand mixer: the same transformation humans have been doing for 10,000 years, now taking about 12 minutes.

Total time
20 min
Serves
8
Difficulty
Medium
Homemade Butter
As seen on Episode 268

The preparation

7 steps, about 20 minutes start to finish.

  1. 01

    Let cream come to ~65°F before starting. Not cold, not warm.

  2. 02

    Pour cream into stand mixer with whisk attachment. Beat on medium.

  3. 03

    Watch the stages: whipped cream (3 min), stiff peaks (5 min), grainy/over-whipped (7 min), then butter separates from buttermilk (10-15 min total).

  4. 04

    Stop immediately when butter clumps and buttermilk splashes in the bowl.

  5. 05

    Pour off buttermilk and save it.

  6. 06

    Transfer butter to a bowl of ice water. Knead to flush out residual buttermilk. Change water and repeat until water runs clear.

  7. 07

    Press out excess water. Add salt to taste. Fold in. **Note:** Save the buttermilk. Use it for pancakes, biscuits, or salad dressing.

lightbulb The chef's notes

“Higher fat cream means better yield and a richer flavor. The phase inversion, cream going from oil-in-water to water-in-oil, happens suddenly. Do not stop the mixer the moment it looks broken.”

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