Homemade Butter

Home made butter

Homemade butter is a lot easier than I ever realised the method is really simple and the ingredients even more so. What's also worth taking into account is the fact that as the butter separates from the milk you are left with buttermilk which is not always readily available in British supermarkets so it can be popped in the fridge ready to made into something yummy!

Ingredients

900ml double cream

Method

• The first important thing is to start by bringing your cream up to room temperature I am insured that this makes a big difference to the way the butter will set.

• Put your cream into your food processor and start to mix I mixed mine on a slow to medium speed, but beware as the butter starts to solidify the leftover Buttermilk will fly out of the mixer try covering your mixer with a tea towel so that it doesn't fly out everywhere.

• Beat the cream until it starts to separate and become really lumpy (it looks a bit like scrambled egg) and you have lots of buttermilk in the bowl. 

• Drain the butter through a clean tea towel (Remembering to save the milk for later) Wrap the butter in a clean tea towel and wring it out. While it is still in your cloth rinse it in icy cold water, wringing it out as you go.

• Remove your butter from the cloth into a small bowl, add a little running ice cold water and work with a fork, pour the liquid out and repeat. Do this a few times until you notice the water becomes clearer. By doing this you are separating the butter from the liquid and the water helps you wash it out, this is why the water needs to be icy cold.  make sure you wash all the whey out of the butter as this will make it last longer, add a few pinches of salt or none if you choose.  (Though the salt also increases it’s shelf life.)  
• Place in the fridge until set then enjoy!

Good luck!

Crumpets

Homemade crumpets

These crumpets are a bit of effort but they make quite a large batch which you can store and cook up when needed. You could also try freezing them for later 

Ingredients

450g plain flour, sifted
½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1x7g sachet fast-action dried yeast

300ml / ½ pint warm milk

300ml / ½ pint warm water

vegetable oil

4 crumpet rings or 7.5cm/3in plain pastry cutters, greased

Method

• Place the flour and salt into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and yeast making a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and water and mix to give quite a thick batter. Beat well until completely combined and cover with a tea towel or cling film.

• Leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour until it's a light, spongy texture. Stir well to knock out any air and pour into a large jug.

• Heat a non-stick frying pan over a very low heat with a drop of oil. Wipe the pan with kitchen paper to remove excess oil. Sit the greased crumpet rings in the pan and leave to heat up for a couple of minutes.

• Pour in enough mixture to fill the rings just over halfway up the sides. Leave to cook until plenty of small holes appear on the surface and the batter has just dried out. This will take about 8-10 minutes.

•  Remove the rings and turn over the crumpets to cook for a further minute or two on the other side. Sit the first batch of crumpets on a wire rack while continuing to cook the remaining mixture.

• When you are ready to eat the crumpets toast as normal.

I always find that the more I make the better the crumpets are, so don't get disheartened if the first couple don't come out how you had expected.