Do not even ask me why I made butter, as I had butter... but the foodie blogs were filled with all-things butter this week and I just couldn't help myself. Butter is only cream that has been whipped (or churned) enough that the water molecules are forced from the fat. Making butter is incredibly easy and only takes a few minutes if you use a stand (or hand) mixer.
I used two cups of heavy cream and let it come to room temperature. Then I poured it into the bowl of my stand mixer, using the whip attachment.
Notice the color is just off-white.
The cream was whipped on a very low speed (to avoid splatters) until it began to thicken. Then I turned it up a notch and let it whip to "whipped cream" stage... except I just kept whipping. Notice how this cream is whipped about 10 seconds too long and the whipped cream would be terribly stiff.
Five seconds later - success! The yellow butter gathers together and the liquid is left over. The liquid is "buttermilk". After the butter reached this point, I turned the mixer speed to the very slowest setting and let it "churn" one more minute.
The plan now is to strain off the buttermilk and rinse the butter four or five times in very cold water, kneading, to make sure all the buttermilk has been washed away. (The water from my kitchen tap is cool enough for this process; if your tap water is not very cold, use ice water.) Rinse until the water runs clear.
Then I moved the butter to a work surface and kneaded in about 1/8 teaspoon of fine flaked sea salt with a spatula. The flavor is fresh and the color is really lovely.
I ended up with about one cup of buttermilk and about one cup of butter. I used the buttermilk to make a loaf of bread! Bread and butter!
Butta!Until my next update, I remain, your fatty correspondent.