How To Make Fermented Butter (Cultured Butter)
Cultured or fermented butter is the most delicious fresh butter ever! It has a beautiful light tang and a silky smooth texture.
Fermented butter is made from cream lightly fermented with live cultures (like from yoghurt). This fermentation process gives the butter a slight tangy taste. This fermentation process develops a richer, more buttery flavour with a lovely light tang. The good bacteria feed on the natural sugars in the cream and turn them into lactic acid, which is what gives cultured butter its signature taste.
Making cultured butter at home also gives you the bonus of homemade buttermilk! This is the liquid left behind after the butter has been formed. I actually love drinking it as it is, but it’s also delicious in baking because the acid in it adds tenderness. I use it in these white chocolate blueberry muffins.
Timing and Ingredients
To make cultured butter, you’ll need heavy cream and fresh yoghurt (plain, with live cultures). If you don’t have yoghurt, kefir yoghurt or sour cream can be used; just ensure that what you use contains live cultures.
The cream needs time to ferment before being whipped – at least 24 hours but up to 48 hours.
fermenting time
Fermenting time can vary a lot with temperature, so I always go by smell. It should smell pleasantly tangy and sharp, and look clean and thicker. If it smells pleasantly sour and there’s no fuzzy mould, discolouration or sliminess, it’s good to chill and churn. If anything smells off or looks wrong, it’s safest to start again rather than risk it. And do chill it well before churning, cold cream splits into butter much more easily.
Method
- The first step is to ferment the cream. Pour cream into a bowl and add in yoghurt.
- Leave the cream to ferment at normal room temperature, ideally around 20 to 24°C. If your kitchen is cooler than this it will ferment much more slowly, so it may need the full 48 hours or a warmer spot. Try not to let it get too warm though, above about 25°C/77°F it can ferment too fast and turn sharp rather than pleasantly tangy.
- I always use the mixing bowl from my stand mixer that I will be whipping the butter in later on. It saves on dishes and it comes with a lid to cover it.
- Once the cream has fermented, it should smell slightly, pleasantly tangy. It will have formed a thick cream layer on the top. Chill it well in the fridge before churning. Cold cream splits into butter far more easily than if it’s warm.
Churning
- Place the bowl in your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Alternatively, you can use a hand-held beater or pour the mixture into a food processor.
- Start on low-medium speed, whisking until the cream thickens. If your mixer has a splash guard, use that.
- The mixture will thicken, then become grainy. Keep on mixing and soon the yellow clumps of butter will form.
- This part can become a bit splashy so don’t have the mixer on too high.
- Once the butter has formed it’s time to strain off the buttermilk. Tip the mixture into a colander over a bowl to catch the milk.
- Save the buttermilk in a jar in the fridge or the freezer to use later. Place the butter clumps back into the mixing bowl whisk it again, or use your hands to squeeze and knead the butter to remove more buttermilk.
- Now rinse the remaining butter in the colander under cold water, then pop it into a bowl of ice-cold water.
- Use your hands to squeeze and knead the butter to remove the remaining buttermilk.
- Refresh the cold water and keep repeating this process until the water in the bowl is clean. Ensure the water stays cold throughout this process by adding ice cubes as needed.
- Place the butter on a clean bench or board. If you are working in a hot environment, it’s helpful to work on a marble or stone board that can be chilled in the fridge or rubbed with ice blocks before use.
Salting the butter
If you want to add salt to the butter for storing purposes and taste, weigh the butter first. Then, flatten it on the bench and sprinkle over a little unrefined salt, around 1.5% of the total butter weight. Fold the butter over itself a few times to incorporate the salt. If the butter has warmed too much, place it in the fridge and let it chill.
Shaping the butter
- Now use butter paddles or wooden spoons to flatten and squash the butter over and over again. This removes those last remaining drops of buttermilk.
- Take your time doing this because any buttermilk not removed can cause the butter to go rancid faster.
- Once all the buttermilk has been removed, use the paddles to shape the butter into a block.
- If you don’t have paddles you can wrap the butter in parchment paper and roll it into a shape.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. The butter can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Related recipes
Fermented Butter (Cultured Butter Recipe)
Ingredients
- 500 ml heavy cream
- 50 g plain yoghurt with live cultures
- unrefined salt
Instructions
- Pour the cream into a bowl and add in yoghurt. Leave the cream to ferment at normal room temperature, ideally around 20 to 24°C. If your kitchen is cooler than this it will ferment much more slowly, so it may need the full 48 hours or a warmer spot. Try not to let it get too warm though, above about 25°C/77°F it can ferment too fast and turn sharp rather than pleasantly tangy.
- Once the cream has fermented, it should smell lightly tangy and may have formed a thick cream layer on the top. Chill the cream in the fridge for a couple of hours beforing whipping. Cold cream splits into butter far more easily than if it's warm.
- Place the bowl in your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Alternatively, you can use a hand-held beater or pour the mixture into a food processor.
- Start on low-medium speed, whisking until the cream thickens. If your mixer has a splash guard, use that.
- The mixture will thicken, then become grainy. Keep on mixing and soon the yellow clumps of butter will form. This part can become a bit splashy so don’t have the mixer on too high.
- Once the butter has formed it’s time to strain off the buttermilk. Tip the mixture into a seive over a bowl to catch the milk. Save the buttermilk in a jar in the fridge or the freezer to use later.
- Place the butter clumps back into the mixing bowl whisk it again, or use your hands to squeeze and knead the butter to remove more buttermilk.
- Now rinse the formed butter in the seive under cold water, then place it into a bowl of ice-cold water.
- You can use your hands to squeeze and knead the butter to remove the remaining buttermilk. Refresh the cold water and repeat this process until the water in the bowl is clean. Add ice cubes as needed to ensure the water stays cold throughout this process.
- Salting the butter – If you want to add salt to the butter for storing purposes and taste, weigh the butter first. Then, flatten it on the bench and sprinkle over a little unrefined salt, around 1.5% of the total butter weight. Fold the butter over itself a few times to incorporate the salt. If the butter has warmed too much, place it in the fridge and let it chill.
- Now use butter paddles or wooden spoons to flatten and squash the butter over and over again. This removes those last remaining drops of buttermilk. Take your time doing this because any buttermilk not removed can cause the butter to go rancid faster.
- Once all the buttermilk has been removed, use the paddles to shape the butter into a block. If you don’t have paddles, you can wrap the butter in parchment paper and roll it into a shape.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. The butter can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Thanks for the wonderful butter making instructions.
I’m guessing that yogurt is only necessary if you’re using pasteurized milk. Since raw milk is naturally probiotic, one should be able to use 100% raw milk. Raw milk is always on the path to becoming yogurt anyhow.
My interest in making butter comes from the fact i can’t find a source of non-pasteurized butter. Pasteurization does unhealthy things to milk fat, and i’m trying to eat healthier fats.
Thanks so much for reading this recipe! Hope you love it as much as i do 🙂