Quote: Mike Oxlong "Quick question, and thought this would be the best place to ask. Looking at making some red velvet muffins, and the recipe says to put buttermilk in it - but not sure where to get that from? Asked in my local Asda and they had no idea!!
Have googled and seems to be an American thing, but seen some sites that say soured cream is a suitable substitute...can anyone clarify if that would be good or if & where I can source some buttermilk??'"
My guess (and its only a guess) is that skimmed milk would be your closest thing in the UK, in the US buttermilk is the fluid that is left after full fat milk has been churned to make butter, ie the liquid without the fat.
Ive made plenty of muffins with semi-skimmed just because thats what we had in the fridge and never had any problems, the biggest thing is to get the oven to the right temperature and then bake for exactly the right length of time and remove them to cool, don't let them cool in the oven or you'll lose the "volcano" effect where the top of the muffin rises to a peak, mind they can still fall after coolong too - just smother them in creamy topping and no-one will care.
