Washing homemade cultured butter - improving the process?

[Matt Powell]

I've made a couple of batches of cultured butter using local grassfed cream and yogurt for fermentation - they've turned out great and the entire process isn't too messy or too much work beyond the washing step.

 

Currently I use a 16-cup Magimix food processor for the churning, then press by hand using a colander and mixing bowl to get out the buttermilk remnants. This last part requires a good deal of manual labor and to be honest I'm never 100% comfortable that I got enough buttermilk out to stop it from going rancid. Hasn't been an issue yet but the butter also gets parceled out between myself and a couple of friends and disappears quickly.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has experimented with other ways of washing the butter - I was thinking of draining the buttermilk from the processor, adding back a quantity of water and running again, emptying and repeating the process several times. 

 

Either that, or switch to using a stand mixer for the process and doing this with the paddle attachment rather than relying on the food processor vortex.

[Shalmanese]

I've never had problems washing butter. Just swish around in cold water until the water runs clear. It's about as strenuous as washing rice. I don't see how a mixer would help. The biggest part of it is draining and refilling the water which seems harder using a machine.

If, as you say, you're using the butter in a matter of weeks, there shouldn't be any concerns about rancidity.

[andiesenji]

I've been making butter for decades. 

After draining and SAVING the buttermilk - I use it in baking - add back at least that amount of water - cold - run the mixer for 2 minutes

Drain

repeat two more times and then press out the remaining liquid.

use a board over the sink with a slight tilt to allow drainage  and two "butter pats"  paddles that are grooved to facilitate drainage.

 

Photos of the entire process on my blog.

[nickrey]

I also do what andeisenji does. Use chilled water for the best effect.

[ElsieD]

Andie, do you use speed 4 for both the initial "churn" and the subsequent rinses? And what can I use instead of the butter paddles which I happen not to have?

[andiesenji]

Yes, speed 4.  And you can use your hands - wear gloves - or you can use a rolling pin - the French type or the plain cylinders, press and roll it away from you, fold it with a bench scraper or similar tool.  Periodically dip your hands in cold water.

 

You can also put it in cheesecloth (the fine weave butter muslin) and squeeze it while it hangs above the sink. 

[ElsieD]

Thanks, Andie.

[ElsieD]

I made butter today following the instructions on Andie's blog and using the Thermomix. It turned out great. I had just shy of a litre of cream and got 12 ounces of butter. I used Maldon salt which I squished in using my gloved hands. Very nice clean taste.

[Martin Fisher]

I've made a couple of batches of cultured butter using local grassfed cream and yogurt for fermentation

Edited January 22, 2015 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[andiesenji]

There are different ways of tweaking the flavor of butter besides culturing the cream.  Adding a pinch of a particular type of cheese, dried and finely grated or ground and allowing it to "bloom" in the cream overnight at room temp, can produce flavors much like some of the European specialty cultured butters.

 

I have used at various times, Romano, Sap Sago, Asiago and even a blue cheese - I cut a thin slice, dried it in the dehydrator and ground it very fine.

 

These are not the same as "composed" butters in which the additions are made after the butter has been churned.  Those flavors are much stronger while the flavor of the butter churned with flavored cream is much more subtle.