Homemade butter is a great idea for a couple of reasons: One, fresh fermented butter is both super delicious and great for you. Two, making your own butter is a perfect way to indulge your pioneer-woman fantasies for a brief moment. Win, win.
Tips & FAQ for Fermented Butter
-I recommend using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment for this butter recipe over a handheld electric mixer, having tried both. There’s much less splashing with a stand mixer, and since it takes quite a while for the cream to turn to butter, it’s nice to be able to set the mixer running and take your hands off. If you only have a handheld mixer though, it will still do the trick. Or maybe you’ve got a butter churn stashed somewhere- if so, feel free to use it!
-Bake with the buttermilk- don’t pour it down the sink! Try using the buttermilk in Finnish Brita Cake, Rhubarb Muffins, or Sourdough Buttermilk Bread.
Why make fermented butter?
The fermentation process is not only great for the flavor profile of your butter, it can also provide health benefits: fermented foods contain beneficial bacteria which are great for gut health (and overall health). More on this here if you’re curious!
What’s the difference between cultured (fermented) butter and sweet cream butter?
Sweet cream butter is the traditional butter you’re used to buying from the grocery store. The difference when making fermented butter is the addition of a bacterial culture to the cream- then the cream ferments for a time before being churned to separate out the butter from the buttermilk. Taste wise, cultured butter is tangier (in the best way possible).
What type of cream should I use for fermented butter?
You can use either raw cream or pasteurized cream from the store for this recipe. If you are skimming the cream from fresh raw milk yourself, make sure it’s had 48+ hours to rise. I learned this one the hard way- when I skimmed my cream after 24 hours, the fat content wasn’t sufficient to form butter, and it was ultimately a waste of some extremely delicious, high-quality fresh cream.
Since raw cream already contains live bacterial cultures, it’s up to you whether you add plain yogurt when using raw cream.
When buying cream at the grocery store, look for cream that’s labelled “pasteurized”- not “ultra-pasteurized”- and made without additives and thickeners for the best result.
How should I store my fermented butter?
Store in the fridge wrapped in wax paper or parchment paper for the longest lasting cultured butter.
How should I serve fermented butter?
A nice thick shmear on fresh sourdough bread is my personal favorite! Generally speaking, use it as you would regular butter, but I’d urge you not to use this all up in baked goods. Both the health benefits of the lactobacillus bacteria and the fabulous tangy flavor will be wasted if you bake it.
Tools & Equipment for Fermented Butter
- Large liquid measuring cup
- Stand mixer with a whisk attachment: Alternatively, if you have a large food processor, you can use that! You can also use a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, but this method causes quite a bit more splashing.
- Butter paddles or butter mold if desired
- Strainer to separate buttermilk
- Medium bowl for ice water, to wash butter
- Kitchen scale
Ingredients for Fermented butter
- Heavy cream: can be either raw cream separated from raw milk or purchased at the grocery store.
- Plain Greek yogurt– to introduce live cultures to the cream. You can substitute another live culture produce like milk kefir, or you can omit this if you’re using raw cream that you skimmed from fresh milk.
- Salt: either kosher salt or sea salt. You’ll add a little bit by weight for flavor and preservation.
The process: How to make fermented butter
Ferment cream
Start by placing your yogurt in the bottom of a large liquid measuring cup or large jar. Pour in your quart of cream and whisk a bit with a fork to evenly distribute the active cultures. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and leave at room temperature to ferment for 24-48 hours.
Transfer the cultured cream to the fridge to chill for 8+ hours- cold cream will yield the best butter.
Make butter
Pour the cold cream mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. I recommend starting at low speed until the cream starts to thicken a bit to reduce splashing. After the cream thickens somewhat, increase to medium speed and let it keep whipping!
The consistency will change first to that of whipped cream, then it will start to solidify, then rather suddenly it will separate into butter curds and butter milk. You may get splashed if you’re looking away when this happens. Let the mixer keep going for another minute or two.
Use a strainer or cheese cloth to separate the butter from the buttermilk. Save the buttermilk to bake with (or drink it, if you want! The Finns do) . Gather the butter together into a ball.
Rinse & Salt Butter
Fill a bowl with ice-cold water. Start by rinsing the butter under the faucet in cold water, squeezing to release buttermilk, until most of the buttermilk is out. Then place the butter in the bowl of cold water and continue to squeeze the butter until no more buttermilk will be released.
Weigh your butter in grams on a kitchen scale. Add kosher salt or sea salt by weight- 1.5 % of the weight of the butter in grams. For example, if you end up with 350 grams of butter, add 5 grams (technically, 5.25 grams) of salt and work it into the butter until it is distributed evenly.
Shape & store in the fridge in your butter container of choice- or simply wrap it up in parchment paper. One quart of cream yields approximately 3/4 lb of butter and a couple cups of buttermilk.
Fermented Butter (Cultured Butter)
Ingredients
- 1 qt heavy cream raw OR pasteurized-see notes for more!
- 2 tbsp yogurt (with live cultures) about 50 g
- salt by weight- kosher or fine sea salt
Instructions
- Place your yogurt in the bottom of a bowl or large liquid measuring cup and pour the cream on top of it. Whisk with a fork to distribute the cultures and lightly cover the container.
- Leave the cream mixture on the counter for 24-48 hours to ferment.
- Transfer the cream to the fridge for 8+ hours- the butter will form better if the cream is chilled.
- Pour your cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Side note- you can, alternatively, use a handheld electric mixer with a large bowl, or just a hand whisk. Having tried this a couple ways, I really prefer the stand mixer, because it's more hands-off and causes less splashing.
- Start with the mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken a bit, then increase to medium. It will feel like nothing much is happening for a while as the cream continues to thicken.
- Continue to whisk- the cream will thicken, then solidify, then rather suddenly change to solid butter and liquid buttermilk. Let it keep mixing for a couple more minutes.
- Use a colander or strainer over a bowl to separate the buttermilk from the butter. Save the buttermilk!
- Gather all of the butter together. Rinse it under cold water, squeezing a couple times to release as much of the buttermilk as possible. Then fill a small bowl with ice water and continue to rinse and squeeze the butter until no more buttermilk runs out. If buttermilk is left in there the butter will go rancid faster so you want it ALL out.
- Weigh your butter in grams and add salt- you want about 1.5% salt by weight. For example, if your butter weighs 350 grams, you'll add 5 grams of salt. Distribute the salt throughout the butter as evenly as possible.
- If you have butter paddles or a butter mold, use that to shape the butter to your desired shape! Or, simply wrap it up in parchment paper and press it into a block.
- Store your butter in the fridge. You can generally use as you would any regular sweet cream butter, but I would urge you not to use it all up in baking!
Notes
Nutrition
What Should I Make Next?
Dabble in some more dairy products:
- Skyr
- Finnish squeaky cheese
- Creative ways to use dairy kefir
- Best ways to use Finnish yogurt (viili)
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Did you make this recipe? Let me know how it went in the comments! If you share on Instagram, please tag me at @sisuhomemaker. And I always love to hear from you- send questions, comments, concerns, etc to carol@sisuhomemaker.com!
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