How to Make Batter Bread

Learn how to make no-knead Batter Bread. This recipe will be the easiest bread you will ever make in 90 minutes!

What is Batter Bread?

Batter bread is an old fashioned way of making a yeast-risen bread without kneading. After a long day of hard work, pioneering home cooks may have lacked the physical energy and time to knead bread. Batter bread recipes helped these home cooks make sure that they could have bread on the table at dinner time for their family.

You can prepare a Batter Bread by mixing together a very wet sticky dough with a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk. You can even use an electric handheld mixer if you want to spare the elbow grease! 😉

The Original No Knead Bread

Batter Breads have been around a long time. The first Batter Bread recipe appeared in the cookbook entitled “The Virginia Housewife” by Mary Randolph. This book and its recipes were originally published in 1824!

The original batter breads were popular in the southern part of the United States and were often made with cornmeal. But over the years, each region of the U.S. began developing its own versions of batter bread, which led to the modern-day batter breads that we enjoy today. Right from the beginning, batter breads have been mixed and baked and never kneaded.

Batter breads do not have to be kneaded because as you mix the ingredients together in a very wet dough, the mixing process and the liquid help develop the gluten. This process happens quickly, and it will go on to produce a fast-rising bread with a wonderful texture that’s perfect for sandwiches, toast, or just eaten on its own right out of the oven.

A Glimpse into Cooking History

I love history, and I especially love anything to do with the history surrounding cooking, recipes, and especially historical cookbooks. It is imperative for me to preserve the history of how to make traditional foods for future generations, including Salt Rising Bread, Hot Water Cornbread, and No Knead Sourdough.

In addition to the actual historical recipes, I am especially interested in learning about the women who cooked these foods and who, in many cases, went on to record their recipes for history by writing cookbooks. I love learning about the history of traditional foods and the women behind them because I find myself going down many a “rabbit hole” in pursuit of knowledge and learning more about general history in the process.

If you are like me, you might be wondering about Mary Randolph. Mary was an interesting woman who was related to Thomas Jefferson by marriage! Mary’s brother was married to Martha Jefferson, who was Thomas Jefferson’s daughter.

During the course of Mary’s life one of her endeavors was running a boarding house where she spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. Later in life, Mary decided to write her cookbook, The Virginia Housewife. She wanted to share the recipes from her time cooking for her boarding house guests and staff, but she also hoped to supplement her family’s income.

Mary’s cookbook is considered to be the first regional American cookbook. Her groundbreaking cookbook focused on the southern foods that she knew, making it very popular among southern women home cooks.

The Batter Bread Process

Well, let’s get back to the bread. (I told you I can start to go down many a rabbit hole! 😊) Since we use less flour for batter breads, the recipe forms a wet sticky batter rather than the typical dough we are normally used to working with when making bread. When you first mix all the ingredients together, you will reserve about 1/3 of the flour. Holding back the flour in the beginning creates a very wet dough that is easy to mix, not unlike a cake batter.

Once you have mixed in the first 2/3 of the flour and that flour is well saturated, you’ll add in the last 1/3 of the flour. Afterward, you’ll continue mixing to incorporate the additional flour before transferring the batter dough to a well-greased loaf pan. You will not be adding any extra flour to your hands, but instead, using wet hands, you’ll smooth out the batter evenly to each of the four corners of the pan. (See my recipe video for the technique.)

A Special Tip as to the Rise Time

Batter breads need very little time to rise. Only 30 minutes should do the trick, but depending on the temperature in your kitchen, your rise time might take up to 45 minutes. You can know when it has risen enough by making sure that it rises only as high as the rim of the loaf pan. Why? Because if you allow the batter bread to rise significantly above the rim of the loaf pan, it may sink or “fall” once you put it in the oven to bake!

So take care to keep an eye on your rising batter bread. And be sure to preheat your oven, so when the batter reaches the rim of the pan, you can immediately pop it into the oven. In about 45 minutes, you will have some of the most delicious soft bread you have ever tasted!

A Note About Tenting

As I have shared with you in the past, I have a very small oven, and I often have to tent my breads to prevent the over-browning of the top crust. Tenting the bread means putting a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the bread while it’s in the oven. So if, like me, you have a small oven, be sure to keep an eye on your bread as it bakes.

The tenting technique is helpful if you have a large oven too. Check on your bread around the 30-minute mark and make sure the top crust is not over-browning. If it is, but your bread has not finished baking, simply tent the top of the bread with a piece of aluminum foil.

How Do I know When the Bread is Done?

Generally speaking, this bread will take between 40-45 minutes to bake. But to be sure that your bread is completely baked, you can remove the bread pan from the oven, slip the loaf of bread out of the pan, and tap on the bottom of the bread. If the bread sounds hollow when you tap on the bottom, the bread is baked, and you can transfer it to a cooling rack.

Are Batter Bread Recipes Versatile?

What if you want to use a batter bread recipe to make a bread that’s different from loaf pan bread? Yes, you can definitely do this! I will be sharing more batter bread recipes in the future, but I will share a quick tip here.

Say you want to take your batter bread and form it into a shaped bread—more like an artisan boule. Just allow your batter bread to rise in a loaf pan, and once it reaches the rim of the pan, dump it out of the pan and shape it with wet hands into a round. Next, transfer your round to a baking sheet, heatproof bowl, or Dutch oven and bake. You will be thrilled with the outcome of this soft yet crusty bread.

Want to Convert a Bread Recipe into a Batter Bread?

Do you have a bread recipe that you would like to convert into a Batter Bread? It is easier than you think. And it’s definitely worth experimenting with. If you are using all-purpose (plain) or bread flour, all you have to do is reduce the flour in a recipe to have a two to one ratio with the liquid called for in the recipe. For example, if you have a recipe that calls for 4 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups of liquid, you’ll reduce the flour to 3 cups.

If you have a bread recipe using whole-grain flour, the ratio will be slightly different. For example, if you have a whole-grain bread recipe that calls for 5 cups of whole-grain flour (or even a mixture of whole-grain flour and all purpose or bread flour) and 2 cups of liquid, you will reduce the flour down to 4 cups but you will need to increase the liquid by an additional 1/3 cup for a total of 2 1/3 cups of liquid. Basically, follow the same ratio as before, but add another 1/3 cup of liquid.

Batter Bread Shelf Life and Recipes

Batter Bread is best eaten the day it is made. That’s usually not a problem since they are hard to resist! However, if you keep your batter bread for more than a day, it will make amazing toast. You can also use your batter bread in a brunch recipe, including French toast or a Strata.

Or instead of toast or brunch delights, you can also use your batter bread to make delicious croutons or breadcrumbs.

More Easy No Knead Bread Recipes

If you would like to learn how to make more easy no-knead breads, be sure to check out my very popular sandwich bread videos with accompanying printable recipes. I show you how to make a simple sandwich bread as well as a whole wheat sandwich bread.

When you are ready to graduate up to making sourdough breads, be sure to check out my Complete Sourdough Starter Guide. If you are not quite ready to going all-in when it comes to sourdough, check out my little secret sourdough shortcut—the Busy Mother’s Sourdough. If you have little time to get a sourdough starter going and little time to maintain it, this might be just what you are looking for!

Grind Your Own Flour with the Mockmill

When it comes to electric grain mills, after I did A LOT of research, I decided to buy a Mockmill. And am I so happy I did! The Mockmill is a very affordable but beautifully crafted German-made mill that stone grinds grain with settings ranging from 1 to 10—fine to coarse ground grain.

Learn more about Mockmill electric grain mills for making fresh flour and their Flake Lover’s Flaker that flakes whole grain in minutes. (This is not a sponsored post, I bought the Mockmill products that I show you, and I’m a happy user of their devices in my kitchen.)

• Mockmill 100 Grain Mill unboxing
• Get the Mockmill 100 Stone Grain Mill (Same product I show you in my unboxing video.)
• Flake Lover’s Flaker from Mockmill in action (Using this device, you can flake whole grain in minutes.)

Start Your Traditional Foods Journey

Part of my passion for keeping traditional cooking skills alive—in addition to my online cooking school on YouTube—is writing cookbooks. My first book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook published by Penguin Random House (PRH), is full of my traditional foods recipes that show you how to create a traditional foods kitchen.

Be sure to order your copy of my bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, to start your traditional foods journey. And stay tuned for my next cookbook that will be published by PRH in 2025!

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For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!

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Favorite Kitchen Supplies

• Favorite Aprons
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Recommended Reading

• The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
• Nourishing Traditions
• Eat Wheat: A Scientific and Clinically-Proven Approach to Safely Bringing Wheat and Dairy Back Into Your Diet
• The 3-Season Diet: Eat the Way Nature Intended: Lose Weight, Beat Food Cravings, and Get Fit