Does it matter in which direction you stir bread batter or cake batter?

Oh wow, this kind of sounds like one of those which way do you hang the toliet paper kind of dilemmas. I will be interested in reading the answers on this one.

If your bread is successful I guess it will prove that the direction of stirring isn't too vital.

I can't imagine that it would make a difference. As a lefty, I think I tend to stir things counter-clockwise, but then again I do stir both ways. Hmmm, we'll have to make 2 bowls of batter and test the theory out!

Do not worry James, you can stir in no matter which direction. People say the same for stirring hand made mayonnaise. I stir both clockwise and counter clockwise and I always get a perfect mayo.

I don't really know if this is true of not but my mom was always a stickler for mixing in one direction only when she was baking. I'm one to mix in both directions and I'll be interested to see if anyone here has the answer.

I've never heard this about thread of gluten being stirred the wrong way. Yet, if it came from Julia Childs, I definitely would believe that it's true.

I'm quite sure that there is no scientific reason why 'batter' or dough should be stirred in any particular direction. Bread making isn't (or shouldn't be) a matter of stirring, anyway. The process of kneading (if it's used at all) is to 'develop' the gluten. Gluten is a protein and needs to be hydrated and worked in such a way as to develop it into long, elastic, cohesive molecules so that it holds the gas bubbles (generated by the yeast or other raising agent) and therefore makes the bread spongy and light. Proper kneading should involve both squeezing and stretching the dough with the hands or with a mixer. It shouldn't really be a 'stirring' action at all. Many bread recipes require two risings, which makes the process rather lengthy and doesn't really make for a substantially better or more even crumb, in my opinion. Some types of flour require less working to develop the gluten (spelt flour can definitely be 'overworked', so that the gluten actually begins to lose its elasticity). The so called 'no knead' recipes tend to use much longer proving times and rely on the flour to develop the gluten by leaving the dough to rest for several hours before baking. This will usually tend to give the bread a rather uneven texture with a big variation in the size of the gas bubbles, more like a ciabatta loaf than the even small crumb of a sandwich loaf, for example.

Shouldn't make much of a difference except in old fables or such.

Always clockwise, just like monkeys do when stirring their leavings on the jungle floor.

I have always heard you should stir counter-clockwise. Who knows why.

There can't be a difference in the results, but some will say there is

while doing this she need to take a break from it and then continued it.I have not heard of this no knead bread recipe .I am going to check this out.Thank you.Did you get it done.

Surely it depends on which direction the gluten is facing when you start stirring

Mmm homemade bread! I don't think it matters, but that could be wrong

i don't think it truly matters..whatever's comfortable by dominant hand..

I don`t think that it would make a big difference.

I love your puns. I am not good an knowing what clock wise I work. I just know that I make bread every week or we go without bread. I have never used a mixer or a bread maker. I do have a blender. Otherwise its me and the spoon and the bowl.

@JamesHxstatic - That is fascinating and I have no clue if it matters. I will read the other comments and see what the "experts" here say!

I have no idea. I always stir it clockwise.

I have never heard of anything like that. In fact a lot depends on the dominance of hand...right handed or left handed. Well I bake once in a blue moon and I use both my hands one after the other as they get tired and I switch. So I stir in both clockwise and anticlockwise direction. I never realized that it might have some affect.