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Food & Recipes

Making Your Own Buttermilk Is Easy — You Only Need 2 Ingredients

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If you’re as big a pancake fan as I am, you might have some buttermilk already in your refrigerator. If not, and you don’t want to spend the money to buy an entire carton of it when you only need a half a cup for your recipe, we’ve got just the hack for you. 

As it turns out, there is absolutely no need buy brand-named buttermilk other than for the sheer convenience. It’s so easy to make on your own, and the best part is, it only requires two ingredients that you most likely already have in the house. Making buttermilk just requires that you mix your base (milk) with an acid like lemon juice or white vinegar to create the curdling effect that gives buttermilk its sour taste. 

So why just not just use regular milk in your batter? The acid content in buttermilk helps to keep baked goods moist by breaking down gluten, while adding a subtle tangy flavoring. You will see a noticeable difference in the taste and texture of your pancakes, let me assure you. So, don’t skip using this recipe if you want to have the best cake or bread loaf in town! Check out our instructions for your own DIY buttermilk below.

How to Make Buttermilk

  1. Measure one cup of plain whole milk or heavy cream.
  2. Choose your acid. You can use lemon juice or white vinegar.
  3. Combine your cup of milk with 1 teaspoon acid of choice (either lemon juice or white vinegar). 
  4. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. You should see the milk curdling.
  5. Once the milk has curdled, stir to combine the curdled milk until you have a thick, buttermilk texture.

And there you have it! You can either use your homemade buttermilk right away or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week. Check out our story on how to use leftover buttermilk for all your baking needs or as an addition to salad dressings, condiments, and batters. We hope you love this hack as much as we do!

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