What is batter?

This is flour and liquid and usually eggs and other ingredients that are mixed to a consistency that can be stored or ‘battered’. Common additives are salt, pepper, sugar, spices, and baking powder.

The ingredients are used in varying proportions to produce different products. Batters provide distinguishing organoleptic characteristics to fried or baked foods and thousands of formulas exist.

Flour constitutes the primary raw material to which all soft wheat product formulations are related. It provides a matrix around which other ingredients in varying proportions are mixed to form batter. Batter can be stirred with a spoon and is thin enough to pour or drop from a spoon.

Batters are used for crepes, packages and fritters, waffles and doughnuts for coating foods for frying, for making Yorkshire pudding and baked desserts and sometimes for making small crisp cases to hold a filling.

In the United States, the word is also use for cake mixtures, although they may be thicker than the batter use for other foods. Many commercial products are available in ready-to cook, dry, frozen or chilled versions.
What is batter?