toad in a very soggy hole

[peanutbutter]

yet another kitchen-related disappointment in the peanut home. but i described myself as determined on marthamoo's getting to know you thread so i'm going to do it again. seeing handlemecarefully's thread about getting batter right put me in the mood to try toad in the hole - i followed all the tips on hmc's thread (only had time to let the batter rest for around 20 mins though), and put the 6 sausages in quite a small rectangular roasting dish to brown for 15mins or so on 200deg (fan oven), then quickly poured batter on and put back in. After 40mins or so it looked delightful, all dark golden brown. i'd made onion mash and gravy so was bursting with pride when i pulled it out of the oven. but, oh woe, what disappointment. it was completely white and wet and soggy under the crust. dh insisted it was okay and ate it all up anyway but - can anyone suggest what might have gone wrong? should i have used a bigger rosating dish so it could all spread out? it'd have been very thin though wouldn't it?

I find my crust browns before the rest is cooked and I cover in foil for the first 20minutes to allow the middle a chance to cook then brown off the top...not sure if this is what others would suggest,

hotter oven? 40 mins sounds ages for yorkshire pud!

hmm. used a recipe, which did say 35-40mins. covering in foil for first 20 sounds good but it'd still have been soggy in the middle so perhaps i'll do that and also put the oven up to 220 or so. thanks for replies

I usually use muffin trays and do individual toads (I'm afraid this dish is called 'potties' in my house). If you're interested let me know and I'll dig out recipe. You basically wrap bacon round halved sausages (out their skins) and pop each one in each muffin bit with 2 tbs batter (batter goes in first - sorry this is very confused!) They look very cute and impressive!

I too use muffin tins and make small ones as I find they need to cook through properly. Also I cook sausages frist so they are hot, heat the oil in the muffin tins separately and then add batter then sausage poking up over the muffin tin (use half a sauasage per "muffin")

that's a good idea! will get a muffin tin tomorrow when i'm out. thanks both.

Recipe : 125g plain flour, pinch salt, 2 large eggs, 1/2 pint milk, 2 tbs water, 12 tsp olive oil, pack sausages, skinned (with cold water) and cut in half, pkt bacon or parma ham. Flour and salt in large bowl, make a well in centre and crack in eggs. Mix eggs with flour and slowly add milk and water to make batter. Cover and chill for 30 mins. Wrap each piece of sausage with the bacon/ham. Place 2 tsp oilive oil into 12 muffin wells (that's the word!) and place in oven (220c, gas 7) til hot. Pour batter into muffin wells and place in wrapped sausages. 20 mins in oven. Good luck!

btw, should be brown and quite crusty on outside, but will be whiter and softer on inside, v. yummy and kid friendly!

was the oil really really hot? or was the mixture a bit too runny

thanks scotchick, that's good of you to post that, i'll deffo try it. southeast - i've no idea how thick/thin the mixture should actually be, i just followed the quantities of ingredients in the recipe. reckon my oven wasn't hot enough though - will def try this muffin tin thing, it sounds lovely

my best toad in the hole always involves a very hot oven and very cold batter. if i'm organised is made in the morning and left in fridge till required.

also found if theres too much fat than can be soggy

peanutbutter, not sure what type of roasting dish you have but happened to me once when i was using a roasting pyrex dish instead of a roasting tin.

hi fez, yes it wasn't a tin it was ceramic. haven't got round to trying again but will let you all know when i do