From Cream to Cultured Butter in 3 Days
52sThe transformation of simple cream into cultured butter over days is visually satisfying and educational, appealing to foodies and DIY enthusiasts.
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This video documents a three-day culinary project to create homemade cultured butter and sourdough bread from scratch. The creator emphasizes the importance of foundational work on day one, including culturing cream and preparing a sourdough starter, leading to a final product that showcases the value of patience and quality ingredients.
Chapters
[00:09]
Day One: Foundation
The first day is crucial for laying the foundation for the final product. The creator starts by making cultured butter and preparing a sourdough starter, emphasizing that most of the heavy lifting happens on day one.
[00:21]
Choosing Heavy Cream
For the butter, the creator uses three quarts of heavy cream from New York, which they consider the best possible product. The leftover cream is used to make peach ice cream with a vanilla custard base.
[01:03]
Culturing the Cream
To make cultured butter, the cream is mixed with a few tablespoons of plain yogurt containing live active cultures. The mixture is left at room temperature for a few days to ferment and culture.
[01:58]
Preparing the Sourdough Starter
The sourdough starter, which is depleted, is fed with flour and water to create a leaven. The mixture is left to activate and double in size, which takes a few hours. The leftover spent starter is used for other purposes, like making kimchi.
[03:24]
Milling Fresh Flour
The creator mills 100% whole grain flour for the bread, noting that fresh-milled flour offers superior flavor and freshness. The flour is sifted to remove some of the bran, resulting in a softer, more refined flour.
[04:18]
Flour Ratios and Hydration
The creator uses a mix of whole wheat and store-bought white flour for a fluffy crumb. The exact ratios are shown on screen. For beginners, they suggest lowering hydration by 5-10% to make the dough easier to handle.
[05:19]
Stretch and Folds
After a 20-minute rest, the dough undergoes stretch and folds. The creator prefers working with no additional flour, using a bench scraper and water. They perform 3-4 folds at 20-minute intervals, focusing on gluten development.
[06:24]
Day Two: Checking Progress
On day two, the cream is slightly thickened but still liquidy, with tangy notes developing. The dough has doubled in size after 20 hours in the fridge, indicating the bulk rise is complete.
[07:19]
Shaping the Loaves
The dough is split in half and given a rough shaping, followed by a final shaping after a 20-minute rest. The creator uses a simple tension pull technique, emphasizing that repetition is key to mastering shaping.
[08:11]
Flouring the Proofing Basket
During shaping, the creator uses a generous amount of flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the proofing basket, which would ruin the final bread.
[08:58]
Day Three: Baking and Butter Making
The Dutch oven is preheated, and the fermented cream has thickened into creme fraiche after three days. The cream is whipped in a stand mixer until it breaks, separating butterfat solids from buttermilk.
[10:47]
Washing the Butter
The butter is washed under cold water to remove residual buttermilk, which would cause it to spoil faster. The water runs clear when the butter is clean. The butter is then salted and packaged, with some frozen for later use.
[11:56]
Cold Proofing for Flavor
The dough undergoes a cold proofing in the fridge, which slows down yeast activity but allows bacterial development to continue, resulting in a more complex and dynamic flavor in the final bread.
[13:05]
The Beauty of Simplicity
The creator reflects on how cooking skills lead to simplification. With experience, they've learned that simple ingredients like bread and butter can hold up to any culinary experience.
Mentioned in this Video
Tutorial Checklist
6
04:18
Mix the sifted whole wheat flour with store-bought white flour in the ratios shown on screen.
10
07:32
Perform the final shaping using a tension pull technique, using plenty of flour to prevent sticking.
11
08:58
Preheat the Dutch oven and check the cultured cream; it should be thickened into creme fraiche.
12
09:40
Whip the cultured cream in a stand mixer on high until it breaks, separating butterfat from buttermilk.
Study Flashcards (8)
What is the purpose of adding plain yogurt to heavy cream when making cultured butter?
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What is the purpose of adding plain yogurt to heavy cream when making cultured butter?
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The yogurt contains live active cultures that ferment the cream, giving it a tangy flavor and transforming it into cultured butter.
01:03
How long does the cream need to sit at room temperature to culture?
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How long does the cream need to sit at room temperature to culture?
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A few days (about 2-3 days) to ferment and culture.
01:16
What is the difference between creme fraiche and sour cream according to the video?
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What is the difference between creme fraiche and sour cream according to the video?
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Creme fraiche is thicker and creamier because it's made with a higher fat content cream, while sour cream is slightly thinner.
09:26
Why is it important to wash the butter after churning?
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Why is it important to wash the butter after churning?
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To remove residual buttermilk, which would cause the butter to spoil faster.
10:47
What is the recommended hydration adjustment for beginner sourdough bakers?
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What is the recommended hydration adjustment for beginner sourdough bakers?
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Lower the hydration levels by 5-10% (use less water) to make the dough easier to work with.
04:31
Why does the creator prefer cold proofing the dough in the fridge?
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Why does the creator prefer cold proofing the dough in the fridge?
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Cold temperatures slow down yeast activity but allow bacterial development to continue, resulting in a more complex and dynamic flavor.
11:56
What technique does the creator use for final shaping of the bread?
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What technique does the creator use for final shaping of the bread?
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A simple tension pull technique that is easy to replicate.
07:46
What is the main reason for sifting freshly milled whole grain flour?
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What is the main reason for sifting freshly milled whole grain flour?
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To remove some of the outer bran, resulting in a softer and more refined flour that rises better.
03:52
💡 Key Takeaways
💡
Simplicity in Cooking
The creator shares a key culinary philosophy: as skills improve, adding more ingredients becomes less necessary, and simple foods like bread and butter can be exceptional.
13:05
🔧
Cold Proofing for Flavor
Explains a technique that enhances flavor complexity by leveraging bacterial activity at cold temperatures, a valuable tip for bread bakers.
11:56
🔧
Hydration Adjustment for Beginners
Provides a practical, actionable tip for novice sourdough bakers to improve their success rate.
04:31
📊
Washing Butter to Prevent Spoilage
A critical step in butter making that ensures a longer shelf life, highlighting the importance of proper technique.
10:47Full Transcript
[00:09] journey and it's going to be a big one day one is really where most of the foundation is laid down for what will be the perfect bread and butter experience on day three and the first thing I'm going to get moving on is this cultured
[00:21] butter now to make butter of course you need some good heavy cream this cream is New York which is the best possible product I could get my hands on which possible butter I can make I'm going to
[00:34] use three quart of heavy cream mainly because that's what I can fit in one of these cam bro containers and that leftover Court ended up going to very good use I had some frozen peaches from this Summer that I defrosted I made a
[00:46] nice vanilla custard base with some sugar eggs and that cream Blended in those peaches threw it through my ninja creamy and this turned into one hen ice creamy and this turned into one hen ice cream
[01:03] the next process I'm going to be doing is culturing this cream which then gives you that cultured butter and to do that I'm using plain yogurt which is very important that it's plain and it also contains live active cultures which will
[01:16] then culture or ferment this cream I'll mix in a few tablespoons of the yogurt to the cream and let that sit at room temperature for a few days to ferment and culture [Music]
[01:58] so now that that cream is doing its own thing and culturing for a few days I can start working on my bread which starts with my starter and this starter is completely depleted it's been hanging out for a few days at room temperature
[02:11] so you can see that it's desperately craving some more food to get Super container to make my leavon I'll dump in a few tablespoons of that Spen starter and then I'll mix in some flour and water until I get a cake batter
[02:25] consistency just like this and then I'll let that activate and double in size which should take a few hours now I still have about a cup left over of this spent starter which is just super fermented soury goodness so in my house
[02:39] fermented soury goodness so in my house this rarely goes to waste
[03:12] you know when you like take a step away from stuff and you have lefts the kimchi from stuff and you have lefts the kimchi age as
[03:24] my sourdough starter is nice and active and ready for some bread baking and the perfect loaf I'm going to be Milling up some fresh flour now do I always Mill my own flour absolutely not but I will say if I do have the time and energy to
[03:38] do it there's no comparison to the levels of flavor and freshness you get when you're using that fresh milk flour so what I have right here is 100% whole grain flour which can be baked with in this form but the final bread product
[03:52] would be a little grainier it wouldn't rise quite as nice so I like to send it through just a basic sifter which removes a good bit of that outer brand of the wheat berry leaving me with a slightly more soft and more refined
[04:05] flour now this whole wheat flour will make a very nutritionally packed and flavorful bread but I generally don't bake with just this flour I mean as you can see it's not an easy thing to produce Plus for me it's very hard to
[04:18] get away from that super fluffy crumb that realistically can only be achieved by adding in some of that store-bought white flour that's just a more refined product and the exact ratios I'm using for this sourdough are right here on
[04:31] this screen now keep in mind I have years of experience of handling higher hydration dos so if you are more of a beginner with sourdough I would suggest lowering your hydration levels about 5 to 10% basically using less water to
[04:45] make your dough a little bit easier to work with
[05:19] so my dough has rested for about 20 minutes which is when I can start doing my stretch and folds now again since I've built a very long relationship with handling and working a more wet dough like this I prefer working my dough on a
[05:31] board with zero additional flow just a bench scraper and a little water to make my hands more nonstick actually in my CDO course I teach both the beginner method that uses additional flour in this stage and the advanced method with
[05:44] no flour like I'm doing here and in total I'll be doing around 3 to four folds with 20 minute intervals in between but really there's no exact science to it it's all about a feel of how that gluten is continuously
[05:58] developing every every single fold that you do until it starts to feel stronger and it starts holding its [Music]
[06:24] [Music] shape all right it's a new day and like I mentioned yesterday most of the heavy lifting has been done so today is going to be pretty simple the first thing that's very exciting is I get to check
[06:37] in on how this heavy cream is culturing and you can see it's slightly thickened on the top but just underneath that layer is still very liquidy and it's just starting to build some Tangy notes from the fermentation but it still needs
[06:51] time after about 20 hours in the fridge my dough has doubled in size but I'm not relying at all on time here temperature in your house the activity levels of your starter these are all variables that will completely change how your
[07:06] dough Rises at home which is why I love these cam brro containers because I can just rely on volume when that dough has doubled in volume I know that bulk rise is done and I'm ready to move on I'm going to first split this dough right in
[07:19] half and give it a very rough shaping to start building the final shape of these loaves after 20 minutes of this dough resting it is time for the final shaping and there are so many methods and techniques for shaping bread it used to
[07:32] give me a lot of anxiety just seeing all these professionals whip up bread so fast and that's really what separates the professionals from a home Baker it's just repetition if you're doing this all day long you're going to naturally be
[07:46] very good at it but as a home Baker even if I'm baking bread say once or twice a week that's generally not enough practice to really perfect this which is why for me I have simplified this process I just use a simple tension pull
[07:59] technique which I can easily replicate and the loaves generally come out very
[08:11] in this shaping process that I'm introducing more flour to the dough and I do not skimp on the flour here the last thing I would want is to spend 2 days making bread just for that bread to stick to your proofing basket and
[08:27] stick to your proofing basket and completely ruin your final bread
[08:42] space it [Music] automatically [Music]
[08:58] Sh is going going down today my friends it's baking day and it is butter making day so the first thing I'm going to do is get that Dutch oven preheating and I can check in on this fermenting cream now that's what I'm talking about 3 days
[09:12] in for me and it is completely thickened but of course this will depend on variables like your ingredients that you're using and the temperature of your room so what I've done here is transformed this heavy cream into creme
[09:26] fresh now keep in mind a sour cream is a very similar product I mean it's called sour cream but because I use a very high fat content cream I have a thicker and creamier creme fresh first a slightly thinner sour cream but either way we can
[09:40] now make our cultured butter I'll dump in the cultured cream into my stand mixer and get that whipping on high speed after a few minutes it's going to fluff up a bit and turn to a cultured whipped cream and a few minutes later
[09:52] you can start seeing that cream getting a little greasier which is when I will slow down the mixer just a bit and once you start start seeing liquid kind of being shot out of the mixer that's when you know your cream is about to break
[10:05] which is what we actually want in this case complete separation of those butterfat solids from the buttermilk which I'll then strain off and cultured buttermilk is one of my favorite products to have on hand I'll use this
[10:19] to make dressing all types of baked goods but my favorite thing to make are fermented sourdough buttermilk waffles I'll usually make a big batch of these at once because they freeze so well and then you have these sort of gourmet
[10:34] extremely delicious Eggo waffles that are much easier to digest with all of are much easier to digest with all of that fermentation
[10:47] still have to wash out all of the residual buttermilk if you don't do this step and some of that buttermilk gets left behind your butter is going to spoil a lot faster we need just that pure butter fat and I found the easiest
[11:00] way to do this is just to run the butter under cold water and continuously work it with your hands which slowly works out all of that excess buttermilk and you know that's happened when the water in your Bowl starts running completely
[11:14] in your Bowl starts running completely [Music] clear now the final thing I need to do is just finish off this butter with a
[11:28] little bit of salt to season it and it's ready to package up and I do like making butter in large batches because it's a more intensive process and it freezes very well so I'll package some up to eat fresh this week and I'll send a few
[11:40] fresh this week and I'll send a few packages off to the freezer for the packages off to the freezer for the [Music]
[11:56] in the fridge for a cold proofing now you don't have to extend the process of fermentation this long but the reason I like doing this cold bulk rise and this cold proofing in the fridge is because yeast will slow down in these cooler
[12:09] temperatures which of course then will slow down the rise of your bread but there's still a ton of bacterial development that continues to thrive in colder temperatures which I find gives you a much more complex and dynamic
[12:22] flavor of your final bread [Music]
[12:44] a [Music]
[13:05] over time this is pretty classic for a lot of chefs and home Cooks is that things tend to simplify over time when I started cooking since I had less skills and I had no clue how the quality of ingredients actually impacted the food I
[13:19] would tend to add more to things thinking that more was better and that would enhance the experience but as I've tuned in on my skills and focused on quality of products I've learned learn to simplify and it's amazing that
[13:31] something as simple as bread and butter can hold up to any culinary experience can hold up to any culinary experience out there
