Bread and butter are the perfect match. One of my favourite things to eat is a freshly baked bread with a thick layer of butter and a pinch of sea salt. And I’m sure most of you would agree that this simple combination makes one of the tastiest things ever.
I have made hundreds of breads on this channel, and I have even made a few different cheeses. But I had never made butter. As it turns out it is extremely simple to make. All we need is some double cream, optional sea salt, and a mixer, or a jar and a whole lot of elbow grease. While it is possible to make butter manually with a jar, it is rather difficult. Perhaps a smaller amount would be more manageable. With a mixer it takes no effort at all. Even an electric whisk would work.
But why make butter at all? A couple of good reasons – one, it will contain only what you put in it, and secondly it makes it quite a bit cheaper. I paid 20% less for the cream compared to a block of butter and got 20% more butter out of it in the end.
Use the fattiest cream that you can find because it will yield more butter. The one I used was 50% fat. The recipe makes around 300g (10oz) butter. You can use less cream to make a smaller amount. Leave the salt out if you want to make unsalted butter.
Although I used freshly milled flour for the bread recipe you do not need to do that if you don’t have a mill at home. Simply replace the grain in the recipe with equal amounts of flour. Bulgur wheat can be swapped with white bread flour.
You can adjust the seeds, sweetening, and you can make it on the same day instead of cold fermenting. Let the dough double during bulk fermentation and then proceed to shaping and proofing.
Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.
Ingredients
For the butter –
600g (1.3lb) double (heavy) cream
5g (0.17oz) sea salt
For the bread –
400g (14.1oz) wheat grain or whole wheat flour
50g (1.75oz) rye grain or wholegrain (dark) rye flour
50g (1.75oz) bulgur wheat or white bread flour
8g (0.28oz) salt
3g (0.1oz) instant dry yeast or 3.6g (0.13oz) active dry yeast or 9g (0.31oz) fresh yeast
20g (0.7oz) black treacle or molasses
8g (0.28oz) caraway seeds
40g (1.4oz) sunflower seeds
400g (14.1oz) liquid. Use all the leftover buttermilk and make up the difference with water.
To learn more about no-knead bread dough temperature control click here.
If you are using active dry yeast, then you may need to let it sit in the water for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients or else it could take a lot longer to raise the dough.
Method
- Make the butter manually. Pour the cream in a jar and add the salt. Close the lid and shake the hell out of it until the fat and liquid separate. Reserve the liquid and wash the butter in cold water until the water is clear. Shape, wrap up, and store.
- Make the butter with a mixer. Pour the cream in the bowl and add the salt. Whisk on high speed for 3 – 4 minutes or until the fat and liquid separate. Finish by performing the same steps as above.
- Make the bread. In a large bowl combine the liquid, salt, yeast, treacle, and seeds. Mix to dissolve the salt, yeast, and treacle. Add the flours and mix to a dough. *Desired dough temperature 25C (77F).
- Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- Cold ferment for 18 – 24 hours.
- Shape and place in a bread tin. Cover and final proof for 2.5 – 3 hours.
- Bake at 180C (355F) fan on for 40 minutes. Remove from the tin and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes.
Enjoy your bread and butter!
Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.
Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.
