Batter II
1 cup bread flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup water 1/2 tablespoon olive oil White 1 egg Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Add water gradually, then olive oil and white of egg beaten until stiff.
A plain fritter batter of the sort kept on hand for coating fruit, vegetables or cooked meat before deep frying. The recipe assumes you know what to do with it, so the notes below fill in the working details.
- Fold, do not stirThe stiffly beaten white is the only leavening here. Cut and fold it into the finished batter with a spatula at the last moment; beating it in collapses the foam and gives a heavy, bready coating.
- Bread flourThis means strong white wheat flour, higher in protein than pastry flour. It gives a coating that holds together in hot fat. All-purpose works, though the result is slightly softer; mix only until smooth to avoid toughening it.
- ConsistencyOne cup flour to two-thirds cup water gives a batter that coats a spoon and drips slowly off it, roughly the thickness of heavy cream. Add water a spoonful at a time if it seems stiff, since flours absorb differently.
- RestingIf you can spare the time, let the flour, water and oil stand half an hour before folding in the white. The gluten relaxes and the batter clings more evenly.
- Olive oilOlive oil sold for table use in this period was generally milder than a modern peppery extra-virgin; if you would rather the oil did not make itself heard, use a light olive oil or a neutral oil.
- Frying temperatureThe recipe gives no method or temperature. If deep frying, modern practice puts the fat at 365-375F: cooler and the batter absorbs grease before it sets, much hotter and it browns before the interior cooks.
- YieldA cup and a half or so of batter once the white is folded in, enough for a dish of fritters. It will not keep once the white is folded in, so make it as needed.