How to Make Homemade Cultured Butter (and Buttermilk)

Luscious, creamy, slightly tangy and made with only 3 ingredients, Homemade Cultured Butter is such a special treat. Spreading it on a piece of toast is my absolute favorite way to enjoy sourdough bread.

In this post, I’lll teach you everything you need to know about making butter at home, whether you choose to culture it or simply make a quick and easy butter recipe. The best part of this process is that it also results in real deal buttermilk. 

What is cultured butter? 

Cultured butter is simply butter made from fermented heavy cream. You probably already know that butter is made from heavy cream. All we’re doing here is adding an extra step to the process by combining yogurt which contains probiotics and live cultures with cream. The live cultures metabolize the milk sugars and convert them into lactic acid and other byproducts. This enhances and deepens the flavors of our cream, the result - delicious, flavorful butter with a slight tang. 

The delicious flavor of cultured butter makes the best homemade honey butter.

Serve homemade cultured butter on a slice of Sourdough Bread, toasted Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread, a stack of Sourdough Discard Buttermilk Pancakes or with Homemade Sourdough Pretzels.

Make your own homemade buttermilk

Traditionally the byproduct of the butter churning process, most buttermilk that you see on the shelves today is simply milk with added live cultures. Since cream has a higher percentage of butterfat, about 36% compared to 4% in whole milk, the buttermilk you get in this recipe will be richer than anything you can purchase at the store. This results in baked goods that are more tender with a fluffier texture. 

How to store your buttermilk 

I like to keep my buttermilk in a Mason jar in the refrigerator. Remember to label it with the date. Since it's cultured, it will have a longer shelf life. 

How to use buttermilk

• Make more cultured butter! Since your buttermilk has been cultured its loaded with probiotics, and you can use it instead of yogurt to culture your heavy cream. 
• Buttermilk is a great tenderizer for baked goods, a great addition to Sourdough Scones, Sourdough Biscuits or Sourdough Blueberry Muffins.

What you need

Heavy cream - All butter is made from heavy cream. If you have access to it, try and purchase cream from a local dairy. Organic is ideal but non-organic would work fine too, just make sure you don’t get something that’s ultra-pasteurized as it can contain additives and thickeners that can negatively affect the culturing process.

Yogurt - The type of yogurt we can access on our grocery store shelves have been increasing in the past few years. Any type would work fine here, ie Greek, Icelandic, etc. Just make sure you are using plain yogurt without any added flavor and that it specifically mentions live cultures in the packaging. If you don’t have yogurt, you can also use creme fraiche, sour cream or cultured buttermilk. Just make sure they contain live cultures, remember we need those cultures to ferment our cream! 

Salt (optional) - Enhances the flavor of our cultured butter. You can use any type of salt, Himalayan, smoked, Kosher, sea salt, etc. Totally optional but highly recommended. 

Step-by-step instructions

1. Combine cream and yogurt in a covered jar and culture for 24 to 48 hours at room temperature.

2. Chill the cream for 1 hour and whip until curds form and the buttermilk separates.

3. Strain the mixture over a large mixing bowl (save the buttermilk!).

4. Transfer the curds into a mixing bowl filled with ice water. Squeeze as much of the buttermilk out of the curds as you can.

5. Fold salt into the butter.

6. Divide the butter into 3 portions and wrap in parchment or wax paper.

Recipe FAQs

Ways to enjoy Homemade Cultured Butter

Cultured Butter and Buttermilk Recipe

Hannah Dela Cruz

Learn how to make delicious, flavorful homemade cultured butter, filled with probiotics in this recipe by Make It Dough

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 day d

Course Sides

Cuisine American

Servings 24 tablespoons

Calories 68 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  32 oz jar
• ▢
  Hand mixer or stand mixer
• ▢
  Mesh strainer
• ▢
  spatula
• ▢
  Parchment paper

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Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 473 g heavy whipping cream
• ▢ 56 g yogurt
• ▢ 8 g salt

Click US Customary to view volume measurements

Instructions

 

• Culture cream: Combine yogurt and heavy cream in a large jar. Seal jar lightly and let the cream ferment for 24 to 48 hours.
• Chill the cultured cream: Let the cream chill for at least 1 hour.
• Churn butter: Pour the cream into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip the cream using a mixer with a whisk attachment until the mixture transforms into curds and the buttermilk begins separating.
• Strain: Place a mesh strainer over a large measuring cup or mixing bowl. Pour the butter with the buttermilk into the strainer. Gently squeeze the butter through the strainer using a spatula. Try to squeeze as much of the buttermilk out as possible without squeezing it through the strainer.
• Store buttermilk: Store the buttermilk in a jar and refrigerate.
• Rinse butter: Place the butter into a bowl of ice water. Squeeze the butter to get rid of the buttermilk. Rinse the butter until the liquid runs clear. You must get the buttermilk out or your butter may go rancid.
• Add salt to the butter: Place the butter into a mixing bowl and add salt. Using a wooden spoon, knead the salt into the butter until fully incorporated.
• Store: Divide the butter into 3 portions, about 113 grams each. Place each piece of butter on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Form the butter into a cylinder and wrap it. Your butter will keep well in the refrigerator for 3 months or in the freezer indefinitely.

Tips

These recipes were developed and tested using grams for precise measurements. To increase your chances of success, I recommend investing in a kitchen scale. I've included rough volume estimates (in tablespoons and cups), but they might not be totally accurate.

Remember all ovens are unique, these recipes were tested in my oven which runs cooler than others. You might need to lower the temperature if your bake appears to be browning too quickly. Monitor your bake closely and make adjustments if needed.

Notes

Substitute sour cream or cultured buttermilk for yogurt, just make sure you're using something with live active cultures

Try your best to keep your cream cold, it will make the process easier and less messy

Allowing your curds to get too warm may make your butter too greasy

When in doubt, use weight over volume measures

 

Nutrition

Calories: 68kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 22mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 292IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.02mg

Nutrition info provided are estimates.

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