Buttermilk

Buttermilk is a secret ingredient in many delicious baked goods and other recipes! And while it may be easy for many of you to find, for others like myself, buttermilk may not be sold at your local grocery store. In fact, here in Southern Italy they do not sell buttermilk at all! The first several years I lived here I was in a buttermilk depression because my favorite cake called for the ingredient, but the stores did not sell it. Then FINALLY I came upon this easy solution!!

So if you cannot find buttermilk at the store or maybe you started on a recipe only to realize that you do not have buttermilk on hand, nor time to go to the store, then read on!

And you only need to simple ingredients that you are likely to have at home already:

• Whole milk
• Apple cider vinegar

I have made this recipe with 2% milk and with other types of vinegar, and it works almost as well. You can also substitute lemon juice for the vinegar.

Let the vinegar-milk mixture sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes it is ready to use in your recipe!!

When baking with buttermilk, if you make your buttermilk first, then by the time you have prepared the rest of the recipe the buttermilk has usually had the time to sit and is ready for your use!

Enjoy! Buttermilk is delicious in many baked goods. It creates a slightly acidic batter, which helps keep baked goods moist and tender by breaking down long, tough strands of gluten! I love to use it in my fluffy pancake recipe!