welcome friends today I want to talk about this Buttermilk so there's a few things that
I want to cover today about buttermilk I want to talk about what it isn't what it
is and then we're going to talk about buttermilk substitutions and why certain
substitutions work better than others first of all I'm talking about
buttermilk as it's sold in 99% of all cases in North America and I realized
that outside of North America this isn't sold so in Europe or Asia I see people
coming to our website our channel on YouTube and other websites other
channels on YouTube magazines any recipe that is created in North America since
probably World War two when they asked for buttermilk they're asking for this
and there's confusion about what this is even within North America there's
confusion about what this is in North America buttermilk is a fermented
product it has nothing to do with the production of butter
it isn't milk that is going to be turned into butter it isn't the liquid that's
left over from making butter it isn't butter mixed into milk it has nothing to
do with butter other than it's a dairy product there's confusion in the
marketplace because some marketing genius when this was invented in 1920
decided to call it buttermilk and it really took hold after World War two so
what it is this is generally skim milk between one and two percent milk fat
that is fermented lactobacillus cultures are added to it it's allowed to ferment
and that fermentation gives it that tangy acidic taste and lots of layered
flavors within that and it also makes it feel thicker because the lactobacillus
has changed the structure of the milk and coagulated a little bit curdled it a
little bit collaborative some people would say to
make it thicker so if you pour this in it is thicker than regular 1% milk and
if you actually smell it you're going to smell some similarities with other
fermented or cultured products in your dairy case
like yogurt or sour cream a lot of similarities between those products
which brings us to how do you do a substitution so for substitutions you've
got a few options if you live in Europe and you can't buy what North Americans
refer to as buttermilk the most obvious choice is any cultured milk product that
is drinkable that's on your shelf and the first choice would be kefir I have
to admit in all of the buttermilk recipes on our website and I'll link to
it here anywhere that I use buttermilk I most of the time actually use kefir when
we make it at home kefir is really what buttermilk should be it has much better
flavor and it's unpasteurized so this is pasteurized before it's shipped to the
grocery stores and in that pasteurization process you'll lose a
little something kefir has a better flavor so if you're making any
buttermilk recipe from North America and you live in Europe get kefir or any
local fermented milk beverage and if you live in India I would use lossy lossy
works fine it's perfect as a substitute for buttermilk now if you can't get
kefir you can't get lassie you can't get Duke I'm pretty sure I'm not saying that
right but I'll write it on the screen that again is a fermented milk drink I
would use that the next viable option is of course either using sour cream or
yogurt mixed with milk so if you need 1 cup of buttermilk I would take 3/4 of a
cup of regular milk either 2% or 3% and then mix 1/4 cup of sour cream or 1/4
cup of yogurt of course plain yogurt you don't want flavored yogurt or yogurt
with with with sugar in it mix those together and
that will give you everything that buttermilk gives you and we do a waffle
recipe I'll link to it above where in fact I took a regular buttermilk recipe
and instead of using buttermilk I've actually made it to use either yogurt or
sour cream mixed with milk and the flavor is incredible which brings us to
the last substitute the substitute of last resort which is the one that gets
coated in every baking blog and every recipe book on the internet which is to
mix two tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice into some milk and stir it and
then you wait for it to coagulate to thicken up and then miraculously
everybody tells you you've made buttermilk you've made a situated milk
what you've what you've sort of replicated is the acid structure that's
in buttermilk they're just wrong they're completely wrong that is not what the
recipe writer wanted you to do and so the end result is when you put that into
your recipe the acid will activate the baking soda and you'll get a rise but
what you won't get are any of the flavors or the tenderizing aspect that
you would normally get from buttermilk that you'll get from all of these other
substitutes so as a substitute of last resort sure milk and vinegar but I would
choose all of these before that one but I clear that up did I get a little ranty
so to summarize North American recipes that call for buttermilk are calling for
a fermented milk product normally fermented with lactobacillus bacteria
it's one percent milk fat and you can substitute kefir lassi doog or milk
mixed with sour cream or milk mixed with yogurt