Coating Techniques

Coating food with a batter and breading is one of the conventional techniques used in food preparation. The base usually used for breading or batters are flour bases, such as  wheat flour or a ground product like bread or crackers. Some add seasonings to add flavor, and some add sugar for browning.

Many dry breading has some type of binding agent to facilitate cohesion of the breading during cooking, serving, and consumption. The same is true for batters, which also contain water, eggs, and/or milk. To facilitate adhesion of the dry breading to the base food, the use of components, like milk, beaten egg, egg white, or a combination of these food, is often required. Chemical leavenings are added to get a "puffy" coating in battered products.