Buttermilk is the secret ingredient to good baking and cooking. It is used in many recipes to add flavor. And oh what flavor it adds! Also buttermilk improves the texture of the food by making it lighter. Buttermilk can practically be used in any recipe by substituting it for milk when cooking soups, sauces, breads, desserts and much more. Also buttermilk can be used to tenderize meat, make homemade salad dressings, and used to make your own sour cream, cottage cheese, feta, and hard cheeses.
Once you discover the many uses of buttermilk you will be using it a lot. Instead of buying buttermilk make it yourself; it is so easy to make it at home. To make your first homemade buttermilk you will need to buy cultured buttermilk from the store. Once you use it to make your first batch of buttermilk you will need to retain at least a ¼ cup of your homemade buttermilk to make your next batch of buttermilk.
Homemade Buttermilk
¼ cup of cultured buttermilk
1 quart of milk
Put the ¼ cup of cultured buttermilk in a clean glass jar. Make sure jar has a usable lid.
Heat the quart of milk to room temperature on your stovetop, which should be about 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pour the heated milk into the glass jar with the ¼ cup of cultured buttermilk.
Stir the milk to blend the ingredients well and remove any lumps.
Screw on the lid and place jar into the oven with only the oven light on. Do not turn the oven on! The oven light will keep the oven at the desired temperature needed to help milk turn into buttermilk.
The jar needs to sit in the oven undisturbed for about 12 hours.
You can tell that the process is complete when milk starts to thicken. Place the buttermilk in the refrigerator and use it as needed with your recipes.
Be sure to save at least a ¼ cup of buttermilk for the next batch of cultured buttermilk!
Now, get in the kitchen and start using your secret ingredient, homemade buttermilk!
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