White Batter Bread

This is my mom's recipe that I have lost and it is only fitting that Inez had it (you are a wonderful cook dear and my mentor in the kitchen!) I love this bread, especially for stews and soups. It makes the greatest toast. Thank you for sharing ;-) Even people who can't cook can't go wrong with this recipe.

I was so excited about trying this bread after reading so many 5 star reviews, and Inez's recipes speak for themselves in any case. However, I was disappointed in how unmanageable the dough was, incredibly sticky and it rose so fast and so high. The resulting bread from this batch was delicious, although very crumbly. I spoke with Inez, initially I thought I had done something wrong. After reading her suggestions, and the suggestions of others, I decided to try the bread one more time, this time adding some more flour if the dough was too sticky. I also made sure that I used the amount of yeast that Inez called for (I checked with her about the weight of American yeast packages). Again, the dough was very sticky, I couldn't handle it at all except to scrape it into a pan. Again, it rose at an alarming rate, especially in the over, where I thought it would get to high and collapse over the pan. Again, the bread itself was delicious, but very crumbly. So the recipe initally gets 5 stars for yumminess, but I took off 2 stars for the difficulty that it gave me. Inez, I'm so pleased that this works for you and for others, keep posting your amazing recipes. I'm sorry I couldn't rave over this recipe as I have with other recipes of yours. You're one of the most respected chefs here at this site, and I guess this is just one of those cases where "it's not you, it's me" ;-)

God help me, this is the best bread I've ever made. Usually, I by my dough from an expensive resteraunt 20 minutes away. But today it was snowing, kids home from school and I just picked this recipe and did it. Let me tell you, that resteraunt should be ashamed of themselves! I will never get dough from there again! This was so wonderful, we ate 1 whole loaf as soon as it came out of the oven. I made one braided loaf, and one round loaf. I didn't use loaf pans, and they are gorgeous! I want to make this at least once a week! Thank you for posting this recipe!

I decided to try this recipe myself after seeing Mirj's and Inez' discussion regarding it on the boards. Like Mirj, I've really enjoyed Inez' recipes and will be making more of them. Unfortunately, also like Mirj, I had the same problems. I ended up making it a second time and still was not satisfied with the results. Both times I made the recipe as is, but the second time, I baked it sooner as it was mentioned in the discussion that it should not be allowed to raise beyond the top of the bread pan before beginning to bake. It does have a delightful flavor and since I have a toaster/convection oven, I was able to work with the crumbliness the following day by toasting it (when I tried using the uncut loaf the following morning to make DH's sandwiches for work, it tended to crumble apart). This is an extremely quick bread-making recipe so I really wish it would have worked out for me. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to try it though Inez!

I tried this recipe for the first time on 2-2-03. I had 'dough' and not 'batter'. I wasn't very careful in measuring the flour and I think I added too much. The resulting loaf was quite heavy, but nicely moist. I just made two more loaves of this bread last night (2-8-03) and they turned out just perfectly! I experimented and in one loaf I added 2 Tbsp potato flakes and 2 Tbsp dry powdered milk. I wanted to see if it would make a difference in the texture. I mixed each loaf up separately (halved the recipe). I used exactly 3 cups flour in each loaf, which made a batter that was very thick and sticky. The one with milk and potato raised just slightly faster than the plain one, and it had a smoother looking top surface. I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour. I find I like the texture of loaves made with all-purpose better. I followed the times for rising exactly as in the recipe. I put the covered loaves in my oven to rise after turning it on briefly for a few seconds to warm it slightly, and then left the light on to maintain the warmth. I used nine-inch pans so I didn't let it rise quite to the top since the pan was larger, however it was pretty close to double in bulk. Since this is a very sticky batter, I didn't want to cover the rising loaves with plastic wrap in case it might stick to it so I inverted a large plastic storage container, using the lid as a tray to sit the loaves on and then covered it with the container. My container was clear so it was easy to see the rising progress. After rising I put the loaves in the cold oven and then turned the oven on to bake. Baked exactly the length of time in the recipe. Both loaves are equally moist. Comparing this to other breads (non batter breads), this bread comes out VERY moist. It is so moist it is almost doughy tasting when sliced hot from the oven. Today is the second day for my loaves and they are still very moist. The texture is close to perfect. It is fairly fine grained, but not heavy at all. I would actually almost classify it as fluffy. It is not crumbly at all and slices cut well and hold their crumb just fine. I think one factor that is critical in success for this recipe is to catch it at just the right stage in rising. Too little rising = heavy bread, too much rising = crumbly bread. Since this recipe rises quite quickly you must watch it closely to catch it just right. Oh, and the comparison of the potato/milk version with the plain version - I really couldn't see that much difference in texture, moistness, or flavor. It was pretty much a wash, which actually surprised me. Thanks for a yummy and easy bread recipe Inez!