How to make Cultured Butter

It takes your sourdough to the next level of deliciousness. At the Oak and Rope Company we are lucky enough to have the best bakery in Kent across a country lane from us. Gilda Bakery in Bishopsbourne makes such scrumptious bread we can’t stop eating it, but that’s another story for another time. The true elevator is that they sell also cultured butter to go with it!

As the name suggests cultured butter is made from cream with some form of live culture added to it. This can be buttermilk, yoghurt or kefir. The ratio of cream to culture is matter of taste but the more live culture you add the tangier and deeper the flavour. Salt is added and you have a butter that needs no other additives. The flavour stands out on its own.

So we thought we’d have a go at making some in one of our jars.

Firstly take 1pint or 474g of the best quality double cream.

Combine it with 2 tbsps or more of whichever live culture you choose, buttermilk or live yoghurt, sour cream or creme fraiche in a lidded jar.

Give it a shake and allow it to sit in a warm room for at least 24 - 48 hours.

In this time the mixture will thicken and start to ferment giving it a slightly tangy flavour.

Then put the mixture in the fridge for an hour so.

This will make sure the butterfat stays firm and does not go greasy.

Remove the lid of the jar and using a stick blender, whip the mixture until it has thickened even more and is like softly whipped cream.

Reduce the stick blender speed to medium slow and watch the liquid and the butter fat start to separate.

It will look a bit curdled.

Alternatively you can shake the jar like we did the other day (see video above). This is a great project with children of all ages.

Keep whipping or shaking until all the buttermilk has separated and the butter has formed into a ball. Turn it into a game and like a version of pass-the-parcel you see who is shaking the jar when the cream suddenly turns into butter!

Turn the butter out into a bowl and squeeze it using the back of a spoon to squash the rest of the buttermilk out of the butter.

Put the buttermilk back in the jar and rinse the butter with cold water then have another go at squeezing out more liquid which can go back in the jar. This can be used in your next batch of butter-making.

Once all the liquid is strained away, sprinkle over the salt to taste and mix into the butter. Squash this delicious yellow slab into a butter dish and that’s it!

Next step is to slaver it all over your breakfast, lunch and supper bread. Because once you’ve tasted this, you’ll be eating it at every meal.

And if all this just seems a little bit too much like hard work then buy your butter from your local farm shop.