Bulk butter, again

It's been a couple of months since I tried using Thermy (instead of my Kitchen Aid) to make butter in bulk.  We were running out, so on Friday I went to Costco and bought 8 litres of double cream, which I left on the side in the kitchen.

I got ready this morning, cleaning all the surfaces and then Dettoxing them, and re-reading my notes from last time. .  I started to open the cream - which I noted was from a different Dairy to usual, and found the ream was very very thick.  I had trouble getting it out of the bottles,  DH helped by squeezing the bottles for me. It must have been warm and/or sunny in the kitchen yesterday.

I set up my production line, and followed my "Next time" notes.  I was concerned that it wouldn't work with the overly  thickened cream.  However, the first litre churned very quickly.

I had 8 litres instead of my usual 10.  Thermy can only cope with 1 litre at a time (instead of my Kitchen Aid's 1.5 litres), so there were more separate batches.  I was able to use both my Thermy bowls though, so one litre was churtning while I was washing (by hand) the previous litre.  The buttermilk extraction was less messy.    

The resulting butter was a bit soft, but the water had run clear. Maybe it was just because it was from a different supplier?  The softness meant I lost some of the butter through the colander as I washed it, more than usual. 

After washing, it sits in the colander, draining, until the next batch needs to be washed.

At that point, batch A gets moved into another colander. This extra step was so I could monitor how much butter wsa draining out.

When batch C needs to be washed, batch A gets put onto a flat colander in the fridge to firm up and drain some more, and everythhing moves along. 

When batch E reaches the fridge colander, there isn't any room, so batches A and B were weighed into my chilled KitchenAid bowl, and put on to beat salt in.  At this point, I could see that each litre had produced a bit more butter than I was expecting, which isn't a good thing.  Either there is buttermilk in there,  or the extra-soft butter was absorbing more water when I washed it. 

When the salted butter had beaten enough,  I wasn't ready to start potting.  So, I tipped it into a bowl and put it in the fridge,  and started C and D salting.

When I ran out of butter to churn and wash, I started packing the butter.  This freed up a bowl each time to tip the beaten and salted butter into,  to go into the fridge.  Using the KA to salt the butter was fantastic, and this really sped up the overall process.

The packed butter also went in to the fridge.

When the last batches had been salted,  I washed up. Things that were dishwasher proof were rinsed of butter and put in the dishwasher (don't put lots of butter in the dishwasher, it clogs the pipes).  

I then moved the salted, packed, butter into the freeer, and wiped doen the fridge.

I won't know about the quality of the butter (excess water,  retained buttermilk), until I start using it in a few days.   

I hope it's OK.  Overall, it was definitiely quicker and cleaner than using the KitchenAid to do the churning, and I'd really like to be able to carry on with this process.

Catch up

Still Thermomixing.

Mostly recipes I've tried before. 

I've made several batches of ginger biscuits.  These are so easy.

We don't buy biscuits, and I rarely make them.  Don't get me wrong. I love them.  That's the problem.

I have to stop myself making them because I sure as heck can't stop myself eating them once they've been made!

Steamed chicken for the cat (she wasn't well).  I mean, she wasn't well so she was put on a chicken diet. Not "she wasn't well becaise she ate the chicken".

I made a Goulash,  which was OK.

I've used Thermy a couple of times to whip up garlic, onion, parsley and butter to make Chicken Kiev.  And to make the breadcrumbs for CK of course.

I made gravy in it.

I've made smoothies and hor chocolate.

I used it to make bread dough a couple of times.  It's not difficult to use- actually it's very quick and easy - but I also like the convenience of using my breadmaker to make dough.  I've turned millet seeds into mullet flour for Rye and Millet loaf (my current flavour of the month).

Thermy is used most days, and often several times a day.    It doesn't get used if we're eating home made "ready meals" from the freezer,  or if we're having something like Toad out of the Hole.   I know you can make yorkshire pudding batter in it,  but actually it's easier and cleaner just to get out Kenny (My handheld electric whisks).

I've looked at the TM5.  There are a number of things about it which I think are probably a big improvement: the scale is better on the TM5 (the TM31 only goes up in 5g incremements and cannot be used while the machine is cooking);  it's quieter;  the end-of-programme noise is potentially less irritating;  the bowl is bigger; the locking mechanism is better & easier; it has abroader temperature range.

I don't think it looks so good, and I'm not really that excited about the recipe chip technology,  I guess it depends how that all develops.

I'll keep watching and see what happens.



When the new TM5 was launched, my Demonstrator emailed me, starting her email with "long time no see". She wanted me to arrange a demo.    Either she was  being facetious / embarrassed that it was only 5 weeks since I had bought my TM31, or she was being sloppy.  I thought it might be a generic email that she sent everyone,  but she did mention that she'd met someone who knew me (my daughter in law, actually).

As she hadn't been in touch at all since I bought Thermy, not even to ask how I was getting on with it and whether I needed any help,  I haven't got round to replying.