Let’s do a really simple recipe today. So simple that people have made this for thousands of years: buttermilk. Yep, everyday cultured buttermilk for making buttermilk pancakes, waffles, biscuits, all those good things.
Buttermilk
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- In a super clean glass container (you could sterilize it, but we just wash and rinse under hot water, then air dry), pour in the 2 cups milk.
- Pour in 1/2 cup buttermilk and stir to combine.
- Cover and let sit 24 hours.
- Refrigerate and use within a week or two.
Ingredient discussion:
Note that to make buttermilk, you need buttermilk. So, how do you get started? We picked up a quart of cultured buttermilk at Trader Joe’s, oh, probably a year ago. We used most of it, but we reserved some to make our scratched buttermilk. Then, when we run low, we just use some scratched buttermilk to make a new batch. Milk: use milk that you feel comfortable using. We use organic skimmed milk, but it’ll work with 1%, 2%, or whole milk; however, we’re not sure about the ultra pasteurized milk. You’d be on your own.
Procedure in detail:
Add the milk. In a super clean glass container (you could sterilize it, but we just wash and rinse under hot water, then air dry), pour in the 2 cups milk. We have a handy measuring cup with a lid, so we can just add milk up to the 2 cup line.
Add the buttermilk. Pour in 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Stir. Stir the milk and buttermilk together.
Cover and let sit 24 hours. Yep, just place it on the counter for 24 hours. Yeah, we worried the first time we did it, but the buttermilk turned out perfect. Yours will, too.
Pop it in the fridge. Use it within a couple of weeks, and don’t forget to make more before you run out. If you’re careful, you can keep the buttermilk going a long, long, time.
Since it is the easiest recipe on the planet, and it makes buttermilk that’s better than the store-bought kind — thicker, no added salt, no carrageenen (seaweed) — it gets five stars.
