Who knew heavy whipping had so many uses?

Heavy Whipping Cream
Heavy whipping cream isn’t just for coffee and chefs. You can make whipped cream, butter, and buttermilk.

“Butter? Seriously? Why not just buy it?” hubby asked somberly.
“Why not?” I said. “It’s not like I’m buying a cow or anything, but the fresh cream…”
“No.”
“But the neighbors said they would help!”
“No.”

Well, the kids love experiment just as much as mommy and I needed something to entertain them. As I was surfing the web, I came across Free Range Living’s blog on making butter. I knew we just had to try it once I saw how easy it was!

Making butter is very easy and quick. Most people buy butter because heavy whipping cream is just as expensive as butter itself-just no dishes to wash. Another convenient item from the grocery store. Even if you don’t make butter for your daily dishes, it’s a wonderful experience on homemade bread-white, wheat, cinnamon raisin, etc.

You can make butter either by hand or by Kitchenaid. By hand, you will want to check out this YouTube clip: How to Make Butter with Robert Krampf.

Although I haven’t done it by hand, it too looks easy. I knew my kids wouldn’t want to shake it vigorously for so long, so we used the KitchenAid (they never tire of moving the switch). You need: jar with a lid, a marble, a strainer, and salt. Place the cream in the jar, shake vigorously until the cream becomes a solid. It takes awhile. Did I mention vigorous shaking? For at least five minutes. I’ll let you watch the video and determine which course of action you want to take.

For the KitchenAid method, you’ll need: cream, a KitchenAid (paddle attachment), salt, raspberries or garlic (optional).

First step is to let the whipping cream get to room temperature. I’ve made butter when it’s cold, but its better if its room temperature. It also helps if the bowl is cold, but I found it doesn’t matter if it is or not. Some people use the whisk attachment, but to me, that’s one more thing to clean (by hand).

Turn on your KitchenAid (or have your helpers do this). After about 2-5 minutes, you will have whipped cream! No wonder my friend, A, doesn’t buy the can stuff. All those preservatives-yuck! If all I am making with my cream is whipped cream, I use the whisk attachment.

Before buttermilk seperated

If you don’t want/need whipped cream for your fresh berries, cakes, etc., keep mixing! After another 5-10 minutes, you’re whipped cream will turn into a dough-like substance and a few more minutes later, your butter will transform before your eyes! You’ll notice a liquid at the bottom of the bowl. This is buttermilk. You’ll need to take the butter out of the bowl and strain it. You can save the buttermilk for other uses if you want. Otherwise, it goes down the sink.

This is why I don't use the whisk to make butter

People say to squeeze the buttermilk out of the butter, but I’ve never had any luck doing that. Squeeze if you can and rinse the remaining buttermilk out of the butter until you only see clear liquid draining off the butter. Make sure you get most of the water off the butter as well. See-not hard at all so far!

Butter!

Buttermilk

If you want unsalted butter, you’re done! If not, one more step. Wipe your KitchenAid bowl with a paper towel to get the remaining buttermilk. Return the butter to the KitchenAid with paddle (wipe that as well) and add salt. Add a pinch at a time. You do not want to oversalt!  Free Range Living says “add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt for every pound of butter (remembering that 1 quart of cream will yield about a pound).” I make butter out of leftover heavy whipping cream so my amounts always vary. This is also the time to add your optional ingredients (garlic, raspberries, etc).

Put in a container- I use plain ole Tupperware/glad containers, Free Range Living has a French butter bell. Amazon has a bunch of really cute buttersavers for $10+ dollars. What a way to present your homemade butter!

Check out how to make homemade whole wheat bread and enjoy!

You can freeze your butter- just make sure its sealed!



Free Range Living: http://freerangeliving.blogspot.com/2006/11/making-butter.html
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oropJD0CUxI
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com butter bell

Homemade Wheat Bread

Mmmmm. As hubby walks through the door, his stomach rumbles. "The house smells wonderful" he usually comments. There's apparently no need for us to buy candles to make our house aromatic. I just throw some flour, yeast, and a few easy ingredients into our wonderful bread machine. I love my bread machine so much I could sing about it! I promise I won't though.

In my house, my kids eat PB&Js every day for lunch so bread is a necessary staple. Do I feed them $1 store bought white bread/fish bait? No! Number 1. If they are going to eat that much bread, they need whole wheat. 2. As I am trying to simplify my pantry/life and get rid of the preservatives, homemade is the only way to go. Plus, it's just a few simple ingredients other than flour and yeast. You don't even need bread flour for most recipes (this recipe does call for bread flour though). After searching for a good recipe online, I finally gave up the search because all I have in the pantry is white whole wheat flour.

There is a difference between whole wheat and white whole wheat. The white whole wheat flour does have the same fiber and nutrition as wheat, it's just not as "whole" as whole wheat. White whole wheat is a little more grounded for a lighter/whiter taste. Some people use half white whole wheat flour and half whole wheat when making bread, but I had no problem with white whole wheat + the bread flour in this recipe. I didn't expect this bread to turn out the way it did and I will experiment with the white whole wheat more so I can convert hubby to eating more whole grains.

Off the computer, I took Betty Crocker's Cookbook out of my cabinet and turned to the whole wheat bread recipe on page 88. It's not a new recipe, but I really wanted to experiment with my white whole wheat flour. Maybe I could trick him into thinking its white bread.
  
Here is the Betty Crocker Recipe on Page 88: I couldn't find it on their website

Whole Wheat Bread

1 C + 2 T water
3 T Honey
2 T butter
1 1/2 C bread flour
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat and it came out perfect!)
1/4 C walnuts (optional)

White Whole Wheat Bread

1 t salt
1 1/2 t bread machine yeast

Put ingredients in bread making pan as ordered (wet always goes first).
Use whole wheat or white setting on bread machine.
Medium or Light cyle.
DO NOT use rapid cycle!
Remove from rack to cool and cover with a towel to keep moist. (I left the bread in the machine overnight and it turned out moist as a cake)

Good luck and let me know how yours turns out!