Homemade Cultured Butter

Ingredients

• 2 cups cold heavy cream
• 6 tablespoons whole cultured buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon ice water
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Steps

1. In a medium bowl, stir the cream and buttermilk together. Cover with cheesecloth and leave at room temperature for 48 hours.
2. Put the cream mixture into a paddle-fitted stand mixer bowl. Cover the mixer loosely with plastic wrap to contain the splattering.
3. Beat at medium-high speed for about 2 to 5 minutes, until the butter solids and buttermilk are fully separated and splattering inside the mixer. Halfway through, stop to scrape and squish everything down with a spatula so it is not merely clinging to the bowl side.
4. Pour both the buttermilk and butter solids through a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a medium bowl. Pull the cloth edges over the solids and squeeze out any buttermilk. Put any butter solids back in the mixer bowl, and save the buttermilk for pancakes or another use.
5. Add the ice water to the butter in the bowl. With a spatula, squish the butter against the mixer walls to extract remaining buttermilk. Take the butter in your hands and squeeze it a good couple of times; any whitish liquid is more buttermilk. Mix the salt into the remaining butter. Serve at once, or roll into a log before chilling in parchment or plastic wrap.