Thursday, July 28, 2011

Cultured Buttermilk

I always felt as though buttermilk was one of THOSE refrigerator items...
One of those things I don't really use except when making pancakes or something fancy...
One of those things I could just sour milk for and not have the added expense of buying something just for a few items...after all, I do so love multipurpose.
But alas, W. started having some milk issues, so I decided to experiment with cultured buttermilk since yogurt didn't seem to bother him...and lo and behold...it was fine!
So...I still had the "I don't want to buy buttermilk just for baking" issue...
So I decided to just find a way to make my own...
Easier than yogurt...let me tell you I wish I knew about this before...
Cultured buttermilk

Buy a container of buttermilk with live cultures (got mine at Trader Joe)
Pour one cup of it into a clean quart jar
Fill with milk (whatever type you like...doesn't matter if it is ultra pasteurized, raw, your monkey's uncle etc.)
Shake
Let sit at room temperature for 12-36 hours
Refrigerate 
Use
When you are down to one cup in the bottom of the jar, pour into a new jar and repeat the process.
That simple
We've been going through about a quart a week for baking, pancakes, and buttermilk sourdough waffles.
It seems to add a richness to items.
I use a touch less leavening too (or not.)
Baked items seem to stay moist longer as well...
(as always...this is what I do, use caution in the kitchen and always use approved methods as bacteria and culturing can be harmful if not done it the right way...)

8 comments:

  1. Cool! Thanks for sharing as I just bought some!

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  2. Also, If you use cream instead of milk, you can make sour cream in much the same way...forgot about that one...and with all those potatoes, I may just have to do that.

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  3. Thanks for this info. Very good to know!

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  4. Thanks for the info. I awoke to a bottle of buttermilk on the kitchen counter and made some of it into creme fraiche right away. Tomorrow morning, I hope to wake up to another ingredient to keep on hand. It will be so nice not to have to do a supermarket run for it. I used to make buttermilk by mixing a tbsp of vinegar into a cup of milk and let it sit for 10 min. Sometimes the vinegar taste came through, which wasn't always pleasant.

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  5. I've been making my own buttermilk for the past year and LOVE it! Love the smell, the thickness, the results in recipes.

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  6. I've got a quick question for you:

    How do you know if the buttermilk you bought has "live cultures?" I looked on the bottle of Borden that I bought and it's called "lowfat cultured buttermilk" and it lists "cultured low fat milk" as the first ingredient. But I don't see the "contains active cultures" like I usually see on yogurt containers. Any ideas?

    Regardless, thanks for the great tip!

    Emma
    City Roots, Country Life

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  7. I would make a mini batch (maybe about 1/4 cup buttermilk and fill a 1/2 pint jar up with milk) If it smells like buttermilk (sweet and rich), and thickens like buttermilk, then it worked, pour the one cup into a quart jar and continue...otherwise, you can use a different brand. It may not be quite as thick as the jar you bought as usually on the ingredients it will have thickeners, but if you let it sit out longer, it will thicken more. Also as the culture gets older, it will work quicker.

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  8. Okay, thanks for the great information! I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. I mixed up a batch this morning and I'll see what it's like tomorrow. Thanks again for the great tip -- I'm excited to have a decent renewing supply of buttermilk cause it's just so expensive to buy in the store!

    Emma
    City Roots, Country Life

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