So I am here with another post for Baking Basics Series. Next month is going to be all about baking and I will not be doing any baking basics posts. So thought of posting one within the end of this month. Sour cream is widely used baking and if you live in a place where sour cream is not readily available in the stores, then this post is for you. I have some feedback that these homemade recipes are not as good as store bought. I would like to be very clear with my posts. These home made series are just substitutes for original versions and you can never expect it to be exactly as the store bought ones. But you can still mange to create beautiful dishes with home made cheeses and creams. If you are like me living in a area where you don’t get any basic things for baking, this home made series would be so helpful for you because it is being helpful to me too.
So coming back to sour cream, I have gone through many posts on home made sour cream and there are various suggestions to make it at home. I stuck to what is easy for me and this works so nice every time. Before I used only 200 ml of cream to make sour cream but as I use it often in my recipes, I have started making it in bulk. I use a litre of low fat fresh cream from Amul and 200 ml of whipping cream or high fat cream from Milky Mist. And also you will need a little curd to set the cream. Madurai is a really hot place so I leave my sour cream to set for 12-14 hours. I have even seen some one leaving it for 48 hours. Bu the temperature of your place has to decide the amount of time you leave the sour cream on counter. If your curd takes 8 hours to set, then you can use 14 hours for your sour cream. As we are aiming for it to become sour, the time is longer than we use for curd. You have to decide it according to your weather conditions. I usually transfer the sour cream to another bowl once set and will refrigerate it until use. Take it out and bring it to room temperature and use it. If you are making it in bulk, then you need to stir the sour cream every two days. Otherwise the top will be a very thick curd where as the liquid will be settled at the bottom. 
Start with Amul Fresh Cream. Add it to a heavy bottomed pan.
Then add heavy cream. I am using 200 ml for 1 litre of low fat cream. You can even omit this. It is just optional. Heat the mixture on low flame until luke warm.
Transfer to the setting vessel and add a generous table spoon of curd to it.
Mix it well. Cover and set in a warm place for 14 hours.
The cream would be beautifully set. That pattern was because of the plate I used to cover the bowl.
Look how thick it is. Use it in recipe immediately or refrigerate and use it later.
Other topics under Baking Basics Series:
- Oven
- Tools
- Homemade Pan Release
- Ingredient Substitutes
- Eggless Baking
- Flax Gel
- Dark Chocolate Ganache
- American Butter Cream
- Homemade Veg Fondant- Gelatin Free
- How to do Frozen Butter Cream Transfer / FBCT
- Italian Meringue Butter Cream / IMBC Recipe
- Homemade Cream Cheese
- Homemade Mascarpone Cheese
- Boiled Flour Butter Cream/ Whipped Butter Cream
- Home made Sour Cream
wow wow super sissy .love to try this one.
Hi gayatri,
You have mentioned in the recipe that one should use heavy cream into amul cream. Amul cream is easily available but i live in Rajasthan. milky mist isn’t easliy available here. So for the heavy cream which one would go best?
Tropolite, Rich are available here easily. Can i use any of these?
Just omit the heavy cream Swati. Do not add rich or tropolite. They are completely different..
Just wow. Can u pls let me know for how long this can be refrigerated?
Praba, my sour cream is there for the past two weeks. I just keep on stirring every two days and have been using it. The best part is even it goes sour, it will be really helpful!!
Thx so much for the tips & the step-wise process Gayathri..can we substitute the Milky mist heavy cream with Malai that we get on top of milk at home?
You can Malveka. Make sure to whisk it until smooth else you will get skins in the sour cream..
Hi gayatri,
I just loved the posts about home made cheese and sour cream. Even if these things are available in certain cities , they are very expensive and by the time you get it from some place which is very far, enthu is gone. So, please continue to try at home and posting it on a blog.
will try this one Gayathri.. Homemade is always best
Hi Gayathri,i always try to follow your recepies and my family love them much.Will you please tell me how to make home made butter milk?
Thank you Mallika. Here is the link for home made butter. After removing butter, the liquid left is home made buttermilk. http://gayathriskitchenbasics.blogspot.in/2012/01/home-made-butter.html
Hello Gayathri instead of Amul can I use tropolite or Rich whipping cream ?
You need to use any cream that doesn’t have sugar in it. Rich and tropolite are sweetened creams and so you can’t use them..
Could u plz tell me how much curd do i use when I’m just using a 200ml pack of amul fresh cream….and will it take the same amount of time to set/ferment as d 1 litre of cream did?
The time taken to set depends upon the curd you mix to the cream. If you use more curd it will set faster. For 200 ml, add a tsp of curd and set for 12 hours.
Awesome recipe. Thanks.
Wow mam amazing..can I use this along with paneer to make cheese cake? Or can we bake this alone?
You need to use this as an ingredient in cheesecake. It won’t bake separately.
Can we substitute milk instead of fresh cream
If using milk, you need to strain the curd and use. Just like how we do for hung curd.
Thank you