Batter (cooking)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the deep-fried left over batter sometimes served with chips, see Scraps (batter).

English pancakes
Wheat batter mixed with fenugreek leaves for making dosa

Batter is a flour mixture with liquid and other ingredients such as sugar, salt, and leavening used for cooking. It usually contains more liquid than dough, which is also a mixture of flour and liquid. Batters are usually a pourable consistency that cannot be kneaded.[1] The batter is most often used for pancakes, light cakes, and as a coating for fried foods. It is also used for a variety of batter breads.

The word batter comes from the French word battre, which means to beat,[2] as many batters require vigorous beating or whisking in their preparation.

Methods

Many batters are made by combining dry

fermented for this purpose as well as to add flavour. Carbonated water or another carbonated liquid such as beer may instead be used to aerate the batter in some recipes, such as for Fanta cake. Other substitutes for water are wine, or flavored liquors like curaçao, brandy, and maraschino
.

The

single cream, enough to pour or drop from a spoon and sometimes called "drop batter"). Heat is applied to the batter, usually by frying, baking, or steaming, to cook the ingredients and to "set" the batter into a solid form. Batters may be sweet or savoury, often with either sugar or salt added (sometimes both). Many other flavourings such as herbs, spices, fruits, or vegetables
may be added to the mixture.

Beer batter

Fish and chips prepared with beer batter

Beer is a popular ingredient in batters used to coat foods before frying. One reason is that a basic batter can be made from merely flour, beer, and some salt. The purpose of using beer is so the bubbles in the beer will add body and lightness to the batter.

onion rings.[4]

Cuisine and batters

Batters are used in many cuisines under many names.

galapong in the Philippines, spoonbread in the US, and many other examples are all types of batters. [5]
The ideal batter for fried foods is to be thick enough to adhere to the food, but not so thick as to become heavy.

Batters made with wheat flour thicken with every second that passes after mixing because of the development of gluten. Strategies to reduce this effect include the use of ice water when mixing, alcohol (which does not mix with the flour to produce gluten), and making it at the last possible moment before use.[6]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-684-80001-1
    .
  2. ^ www.askoxford.com. "AskOxford.com". AskOxford.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2004. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  3. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0211-25b
    .
  4. S2CID 33678259
    .
  5. ^ The Oxford Companion to Food (2nd Edition), Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2006)
  6. ^ The Science of Good Cooking, America's Test Kitchen, 2012

External links

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