Toad in the hole recipe (2024)

FAQs

Does it matter if Toad in the Hole batter is lumpy? ›

In a bowl, add the flour. Whisk in the milk and eggs and salt. It doesn't matter if it's a bit lumpy. Put in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or overnight.

The flour should be plain (all-purpose) flour and not self-raising. However it is most likely that the batter isn't quite cooking properly due to the dish. Stoneware tends to heat up very slowly and doesn't give the instant hit of heat that the batter needs to help it to rise properly.

Keep Batter Cool and Oven Hot

A successful rise will come from the combination of a cold batter going into a very hot oven. The oven should be as hot as possible—the highest setting your oven can handle (450 F to 500 F) without burning everything to a crisp.

What is the best baking tin for toad in the hole? A metal tin with fairly high sides is best because metal is a very efficient conductor of heat and getting the batter hot is essential for a good rise.

The heat distribution in your oven may be uneven. I have an old oven and my dishes would burn, stick, and undercook until I started using a few tricks (self citation, beware). The main idea is to put a shield (an empty baking dish) between the heat source (the bottom of the oven) and the dish you are baking.

Recently discovered that you need to put oil in the dish first, then put back into oven until its boiling, then put pour batter in and slam the door quickly. Works every time! Your fat's got to be smoking hot. I cook up my (veggie) sausages in the pyrex dish with olive oil.

If the temperature is rising fast you may need to open the door a crack but not during the first 15 minutes or your batter will sink! If the oven temperature has dropped too much add small pieces of fuel to allow it to come back up.

Add a leavening agent to the flour. Most cakes will call for a leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda. These create the bubbles you need for the cake to rise.

Baking powder and baking soda are both leavening agents, which means they cause dough or batter to expand by releasing gas. Yeast is another leavening agent you might know about.

What happens if you put too much flour in batter? ›

Too much flour or too little liquid will cause the batter to be thick and dry, leading to cracking.

The best side dishes to serve with toad in the hole are onion gravy, mozzarella sticks, mashed potatoes, blooming onion, buttered peas, roasted root vegetables, steamed broccoli, cauliflower cheese, creamed corn, colcannon, horseradish sauce, and braised red cabbage.

Despite popular belief, there is no record of the dish ever being made with toad. The origin of the name is unclear, but it may refer to the way toads wait for their prey in their burrows, with their heads poking out, just as sausages peep through the batter.

The table for Toad in the Hole is about 15 inches across and 24 inches long. The playing surface slopes towards the players who stand behind a line 8 feet from the front of the board. In the centre of the table is a hole of about 2 inches in diameter through which the toads can fall.

Line the baking dish with parchment paper. Forget the oil. Add some of the sausage drippings to the batter for flavor and then grease the baking dish with shortening. When you add the batter to the baking dish, the shortening will not be displaced by the batter and help prevent the sticking.