Today was our butter and bread making day as a project in The Prairie Primer. We looked forward to it all week! We started the butter making around 10:30 this morning. I personally wouldn't say it is easy, but it isn't hard. We used a Prego spaghetti sauce jar and lid that had been washed in the dishwasher. Needs to be clean and cooled. We used a pint of heavy whipping cream and there was probably an 1/8 cup left after pouring into the jar. You need to leave a couple inches from the top of the cream to the lid. Kevin and Jason took turns shaking it for about 16 minutes. It turned, or started to, into cream but we could never make it do more, so we turned to our ever handy stand mixer to complete the job. Using the whisk attachment with the cream in the bowl, turn it on high and let it go. The process took a good 20 minutes, maybe a little more to get the butter stage. It gets really, really thick and you think it's the butter. It isn't. It will "appear" to thin out a bit and liquid appear. That my friends is what you've been waiting for. Liquid and what will appear to be little clumps. Using a spoon, pour off all the liquid. This liquid folks, is buttermilk. Real buttermilk. You can put it in a container with a lid and make pancakes or biscuits etc. Now, holding it over a bowl, turn on the cold water. We use a Brita filter for drinking and cooking so we used that for this part as well. You run it under the water and then away from it and squeeze. Hold it under the water, then squeeze, over and over. Eventually it will look like butter and no clumps will fall off. Your butter is now ready. OH, and before putting the cream in the jar in the first place, use between a half teaspoon and teaspoon of salt. Put it in the jar first. We loved the taste of the butter. Very fresh taste. It won't keep in the fridge like store bought, but it will last several days(unless you use it all the first day).
We used this recipe for bread:
Egg Bread:
In a large bowl, dissolve 2 packets of yeast in 2/3 cup warm water at a temp of 110 degrees. Stir in 3 beaten eggs and 6 egg yolks, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Add 3 1/2 cups flour and mix until a sticky dough forms. We used the mixer again for this with the dough attachment. Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead an additional cup of flour into it. Dough needs to be smooth and elastic, takes about 7 minutes. Place dough in a well oiled large bowl and turn to coat both sides. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm place until doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours. Punch dough down and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 12 inches long. Braid the 3 pieces together and seal edges. Place on a well greased cookie sheet. Beat one egg and add a pinch of salt and brush on dough. Let sit for 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375 oven for about 40 minutes, but just until golden brown and cooked through. It tasted great and was amazing with the butter!
No comments:
Post a Comment