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Baking

Butter

Butter made by churning milk or cream until butter forms, then pressing and optionally salting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the churn

  1. Warm the churn and regulate the temperature of the milk or cream to 70°F to 75°F.

  2. Partly fill the churn and secure the opening.

Churn and drain

  1. Churn steadily for about 1.5 hours for cream or 3 hours for milk until butter forms.

  2. Remove the butter from the churn and empty out the buttermilk.

  3. Scald and thoroughly clean the churn.

  4. If butter sticks, pour cold water into the churn to solidify it.

Finish the butter

  1. Wash, press, and work the butter by hand or machine, mixing in a small amount of salt if desired.

  2. Shape the butter into pats or store in crocks, tubs, or baskets.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Milk or cream
Its fat globules clump together during churning to form the butter.

The step that matters

Churning until butter forms. Cream churns in about 1.5 hours and milk in about 3 hours. Stopping too early leaves the fat unclumped, while churning too long can make the butter grainy as it separates from the buttermilk.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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