Batters — From the COOKS.COM Culinary Archive.

BATTERS

  Batters are thin mixtures of flour and liquid made in the proportion of one scant measure of liquid to one full measure of flour.  If merely mixed and cooked slowly they would be hard and compact.  But they are made light by the admixture of air or gas and by the quick cooking before the air or gas has a chance to escape.

  Air at 70 degrees Fahrenheit expands to about three times its volume when exposed to the temperature of a hot oven.  So, as the mixture heats in cooking, the expansion of the air in the batter makes it light and porous.

  Air is in-folded in batters by beating the mixture thoroughly, as in whole-wheat gems; by beating air into eggs, and using the beaten eggs in the mixture, as in popovers; and by the gas obtained by the union of an acid with an alkaline carbonate, as in the use of baking powder in the griddle cakes.

  As it is important that batters be baked at once before the gas escapes, it is always well to see that the fire is in the proper condition, and to have the pans and ingredients ready before beginning to put the materials together, that there may be no needless delay.  The general rule for mixing all batters is to mix the salt and baking powder (if that is to be used) with the flour, beat the eggs, add half the liquid to the beaten eggs, and stir this gradually into the flour; then add the remainder of the liquid, beat all thoroughly, and bake quickly.  When the expression "beat the eggs separately" occurs in a recipe it means beat the yolks and whites separately.

  This lesson illustrates two of the ways of mixing, namely, stirring and beating.  Also the simplest way of cooking in hot fat.

  Stirring.  Stir means simply to blend or mix two or more materials.  In mixing dry materials, stir or move the spoon round and round in the material until well blended.  In mixing dry materials with liquids, add the liquid gradually, and stir slowly at first to avoid spattering.  Be sure that the bowl of the spoon — not the edge nor the tip merely — touches the bottom and sides of the bowl.  This is mashing as well as stirring, and the mixture soon becomes a paste.  When perfectly smooth, add more liquid until the desired consistency is obtained.  We stir flour and water together for a thickening and we stir flour and butter and milk for a sauce, but when air is needed in the mixture, we beat.

  Beating.  Tip the bowl slightly, and hold the spoon so that the edge scrapes the bowl, and bring it up through the mixture, and over with a long quick stroke to the opposite side; under and up through again, lifting the spoon out of the mass, cutting clear through, and scraping from the bottom at every stroke.  We beat eggs, batters, and soft doughs.  The albumin of the eggs and the gluten of the flour, owing to their glutinous properties, catch the air and hold it in the form of bubbles, something as we make soap bubbles by blowing air into soapy water.  The faster we beat, and the more we bring the material up from the bowl into the air, the more bubbles we have; but one stirring motion will break them.  So in any mixture where we wish to obtain all the air possible we must be careful to beat and not to stir.

  Thin batters, like gems made without eggs and popovers, should be beaten vigorously just before baking.  Batters require to be baked in a hot oven, but if it be too hot, the sudden expansion of the air bursts the bubbles and the mixture falls.

  In cooking batters in iron or tin, grease the dishes to keep the mixture from sticking.  The fat on the dish heats quickly, and so helps to cook the outside of the mixture.  This heat gives a flavor and texture to the crust different from those of the inside.  The greater heat of the fat on the hot griddle gives a crust different from that obtained by baking in the oven.  There the under crust that comes in contact with the greased pan is unlike the top crust which had no fat in contact with it, and all these crusts are unlike that of the steamed pudding, because they have been subjected to greater heat.  The brown color and the flavor of crusts are caused by the change of some of the starch into dextrin.

  Cooking on a greased griddle is a two-sided baking, — first on one side, then turning and baking the other side.  It is one form of cooking with hot fat, and from carelessness, too much fat is often used.  It is called frying; but true frying is immersion in hot fat.  It is really sauteing, because the cakes are turned over, but many prefer the word baking.

  A well-greased griddle or pan is one greased uniformly, — not a daub here and there, nor masses of grease in the corners, but just a thin coating of fat laid uniformly over the entire surface.  Any more fat than enough to prevent the food from sticking is unnecessary, and is absorbed by the food, making it unwholesome.  Very thin batters, or those containing eggs and sugar, require more fat than other kinds; but stiff doughs, like pastry and plain cookies, often need none.

GRIDDLE CAKES

  1 c. flour.
  1/2 tsp. salt.
  1/2 tsp. baking powder.
  1/2 tsp. soda.
  1 c. sour milk.
  2 tsp. melted butter.

  Put the sour milk into a bowl.  If one eighth of the liquid is sour cream, omit the butter.  Turn in the sifted flour but do not mix.  Lay a fine strainer over the flour and sift the soda, baking powder, and salt through it, mixing it lightly into the dry flour.  As the acid in the sour milk varies in amount the baking powder is necessary.  Stir until all the flour is moistened and the mixture begins to puff.  If an egg is to be used, — and cakes are better with it, — add it unbeaten and beat until light and smooth.  As both milk and flour vary in consistency, more of one or the other may be needed.  The batter should be like thick cream as it is poured from the spoon.  Rub the griddle all over with a thin bacon rind, leaving only a film of fat on the surface.  The surest way is to fry a spoonful and add more liquid if the batter be too thick to run easily on the griddle, and more flour if the cake spreads too much or will not hold its shape in turning.  Pour the batter from the tip of a tablespoon, to make the cakes round; if poured from the side they may be irregular in shape.  When one side is full of bubbles, turn the cakes over and brown the other side until it stops puffing.  Half flour and half fine white corn meal, or whole wheat flour, may be used.

  This method illustrates one of the short cuts in cooking.  Here separate beating of the eggs is unnecessary on account of the gas from the soda.

BUCKWHEAT CAKES

  Mix overnight, two cups buckwheat, one cup Graham flour and one teaspoon salt.  Stir in warm water for thick batter, two tablespoons molasses and one half cake compressed yeast dissolved in water.  In the morning, stir the batter down; if too thick, thin with warm water or if any sour odor, add one fourth teaspoon soda dissolved in water.  Raise again and fry on greased griddle as wanted.

WHOLE-WHEAT OR GRAHAM GEMS

  1/2 c. Graham flour.
  1/4 tsp. salt.
  1/2 c. milk or water.

  Mix salt with flour, add liquid gradually till smooth.  Beat thoroughly.  Drop by spoonfuls on a hot, well-greased griddle, or bake in hissing hot, buttered gem-pans, thirty minutes.

POPOVERS

  1 c. flour.
  1/2 tsp. salt.
  1 c. milk.
  1 egg.

  Mix the salt with the flour, add half of the milk slowly, and when a smooth paste is formed, add the remainder and the egg beaten thoroughly.  Beat well before filling the pans.  Cook in hot, buttered gem-pans, or earthen cups, in a hot oven half an hour, or until the puffs are brown and well popped over.

  They should rise well before browning, and remain in the oven until the crust is well cooked, otherwise they will settle and the crusts will stick together.  A popover should be hollow and nearly dry inside.

THICKER BATTERS OR DOUGHS TO BE DROPPED

  There are several degrees of thickness in batters.  Thin batters are about the consistency of thin cream; thick batters are like thick cream; still thicker batters are stiff enough to keep their shape when dropped from a spoon.  Any batter is a "pour batter" until it is made so stiff that it breaks in the pouring and drops from the spoon.  Then it is called a drop batter.  So long as it is soft enough to be beaten it is a batter, but when a spoon can no longer be made to go through it easily, with a beating motion, it is a dough.  Doughs may be of any thickness, from "just stiff enough to be shaped," or "as soft as can be handled easily," to those that are so stiff that they may be "rolled thin as a wafer."  It is better to become familiar with the proper consistency of batters and doughs by learning these descriptions, than to trust to such phrases as these, — "stiff as pound cake," or "soft as ginger-bread," which one often hears.

  Muffin mixtures are thicker than the batters of griddle cakes.  The general proportion is one scant measure of liquid to two full measures of flour.  The proportions will vary somewhat according to the thickness of the liquid — cream, milk, or water — and the thickening quality of the meal or flour.

  This lesson shows another way of obtaining carbon dioxide gas to lighten batter, namely, by the union of soda with molasses.  Sugar cane molasses (not syrup) contains acetic acid, and when it is mixed properly with soda, carbon dioxide gas is liberated, and the soda is neutralized.

  Carbon dioxide gas may also be obtained by combining soda with the lactic acid in sour milk.  In using soda with any acid, care must be taken to use the correct proportion, so that no alkali may be left, as an excess of alkali hinders digestion.

  As the amount of acid in sour milk varies, it is difficult to know how much soda to use.  Sour milk is best when it sours quickly and becomes thick and solid.  Then the proportion is one teaspoon of soda to one pint of milk.  When the milk is so old that it becomes watery and separates, or has a mouldy scum on the surface it is unfit to use.

  In winter, milk grows bitter before it sours, and often tastes sour but is not thick.  Then it may be used as if it were sweet milk, with baking powder, or in ginger-bread or brown bread where molasses completes the acidity.

  Soda is sometimes dissolved in water, but as part of the gas escapes as soon as the soda is wet, a better way is to mix the soda with the flour, or other dry ingredients.  Soda becomes lumpy in keeping, and should always be pulverized finely before it is measured; then sifted through a fine wire strainer, and thoroughly mixed with the flour.  When liquid is added, the chemical action takes place in the dough, and none of the gas is lost, provided the mixture is cooked immediately.

  Cream of tartar, made from the crystals which collect in wine casks, is the most convenient acid to use with soda, for it unites with soda when heated, and the gas therefore is not all liberated until the mixture is in the oven.  Unless pure cream of tartar is available it is safer to use a reliable baking powder.

  The proportion of soda and acids is as follows:

  1 tsp. soda and 2 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar for 1 qt. of flour.
  1 tsp. baking powder for each cup of flour.
  1 tsp. soda to 1 pt. of thick sour milk.
  7/8 tsp. soda to 1 c. of molasses for batters.
  3/8 tsp. soda to 1 c. of molasses for stiff doughs.

  Molasses as it is made now, from corn instead of cane syrup requires slightly less than one teaspoon of soda for each cup.

  In any recipe where soda is to be used with cream of tartar substitute baking powder in the proportion of one teaspoon of baking powder to each cup of flour or meal.

  Where only a small amount of carbon dioxide gas is desired, it is safer to use baking powder, as it is more accurately measured than fractions of a spoonful of soda and cream of tartar.

  In preparing all batters and soft doughs, which are made light with soda and an acid, mix the dry ingredients in one bowl; then mix the liquids with the beaten eggs, stir this quickly into the dry mixture; add the butter, melted, and when these are mixed thoroughly, bake or fry immediately.

  The combined amount of the old measurement of one level teaspoon of soda and two slightly rounded teaspoons of cream of tartar, and the fraction of cornstarch or rice flour which is a necessary ingredient of pure baking powder, would be from four to five level teaspoons.  This is the average amount for one quart of flour for biscuits, making the amount for one cup of flour a trifle more than one level teaspoon.  Mixtures that are rich in butter require a trifle more, as it is harder for the gas to lift up a dough heavy with fat; and those that have eggs to help make them light, require slightly less than this proportion.  Use always as little as will make the dough light, and as flours vary and baking powders vary, the right amount must often be determined by experience.  Too much baking powder gives a salty taste, causes doughnuts to soak fat, and makes cake too porous.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS

  Have the pans ready and greased, if necessary, the fire in good condition, and all the ingredients at hand before you begin to put together.  By measuring dry things first, then the liquid, one cup will do for all, without washing.  Beat the eggs in a small bowl and use some of the liquid (milk or water) to rinse the egg from the bowl.  Measure accurately and use every grain of dry material and every drop of liquid.  Scrape all the dough from the bowl but never scrape the dough from the knife on the edge of the pan.  Put it into the spoon, and then from the spoon into the corner of the pan.  Fill the mixing bowl with cold water if not ready to wash it immediately, but if an egg-beater be used, wipe it at once with a damp cloth and then with a dry one.

CORN CAKE

  1 c. flour.
  1/2 c. fine yellow corn meal.
  1/4 c. sugar.
  1/2 tsp. salt.
  1 tsp. cream of tartar.
  1/2 tsp. soda (mashed fine) or
  2 tsp. baking powder.
  1 c. sweet milk; if sour milk
       be used, omit the cream of
       tartar.
  1 egg.
  2 tbsp. butter or dripping.

  Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly in the order given.  Add the milk with the egg (well beaten), and the melted butter last.  Beat well and bake in muffin-pans, or a shallow pan in a hot oven about twenty minutes.  This cake may be made without the egg, and when it is to be eaten with meat the egg is unnecessary; but when this is the most substantial part of the meal, the egg should be used.

RYE MUFFINS

  1 c. rye meal (sifted).
  1 c. white flour.
  1/4 c. sugar.
  1/2 tsp. salt.
  2 tsp. baking powder.
  1 egg.
  1 c. milk.

  Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.  Beat the egg, add the milk, and stir quickly into the dry mixture.  Bake in hot gem pans, twenty-five minutes.

GINGERBREAD

  1/2 c. molasses.
  1/2 tbsp. ginger
  1/4 tsp. salt.
  1/2 tsp. soda (scant).
  2. tbsp. dripping.
  1/4 c. boiling water.
  1 c. flour.

  Sift the ginger, salt, and soda into the molasses; add the dripping softened, beat well, and add the boiling water and flour.  Beat thoroughly and bake in a shallow pan in a hot oven about twenty minutes.

DUTCH APPLE CAKE

  Mix one pint of flour, one half teaspoon of salt and three teaspoons of baking powder; rub in one fourth cup of butter; beat one egg and mix it with one scant cup of milk; then stir this into the dry mixture.  The dough should be soft enough to spread half an inch thick on a shallow baking pan.  Core, pare and cut four or five apples into eights; lay them in parallel rows on top of the dough, the sharp edge down, and press enough to make the edge penetrate slightly.  Sprinkle two tablespoons sugar on the apple.  Bake in a hot oven twenty or thirty minutes.  Serve it hot with butter, as a tea cake, or with lemon sauce as a pudding.

HERMITS

  One cup each of molasses, butter, sugar and sweet or sour milk, one teaspoon each of soda and cinnamon, and one half teaspoon each of salt and clove, and a dash of nutmeg.  Flour to make a drop batter, and one half pound of raisins seeded and chopped and quartered.

  Mix the spices and soda with one cup of flour, and flour the raisins.  Heat the molasses enough to melt the butter, add the sugar and milk, then the flour mixture and enough more to make a drop batter, then the raisins.  Spread the dough on a buttered pan about one fourth inch thick, bake quickly, and while warm cut into oblongs.

  These are rich and delicious and much more delicate than when made with eggs and a stiffer dough.  They are better when freshly baked.

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