Recipe Substitutes for Buttermilk | Yankee Kitchen

Old-fashioned recipes for quick breads and pancakes call for buttermilk, a product we rarely have on hand — are there any substitutes for buttermilk? Fortunately, buttermilk is not essential for this brand of baking — you can substitute whichever sour dairy product you happen to have around: either plain, natural yogurt (don’t use the kind with vegetable gums, thickeners, or stabilizers) or soured milk (combine milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar per cup and let sit 5 minutes). Beat the yogurt lightly to thin it before adding. When substituting for buttermilk in an old recipe, keep in mind that modern buttermilk is a standardized product that’s essentially fat-free; the old -fashioned kind often contained a bit of residual butterfat. You can also buy powdered buttermilk, which will keep for at least a year if stored tightly in the refrigerator. Like powdered milk, it’s convenient and inexpensive but not delicious. Try this method out using our recipe for Buttermilk Wedding Cake (no wedding required)!Excerpt from “Across the Kitchen Table,” October 1997.