Popovers

[joesfolk]

What am I doing wrong? My popovers are delicious. They pop up and get huge. They are delicious. They are crusty on the outside and tender on the inside. What they aren't is even a little empty on the inside as they should be. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. They used to turn out well but I seem to have lost the knack for these yummy treats. Anyone?

 

[Selkie]

You say they get huge. Are they not empty in the center? Do they collapse? A knife slit as soon as they come out of the oven will allow the interior steam to escape, and set up while still large without collapsing.

Pouring the batter into a pre-warmed cupcake or popover pan might help.

 

[joesfolk]

Actually I do both of those things. But inside they are full of "bread" for lack of a better word. I want them to be almost empty like they used to be. The only thing that I can think of is that the pan I use holds a lot of batter in each cup. Maybe it is just to much batter and somehow overcomes the chemistry of the whole thing.

 

[joesfolk]

Actually I do both of those things. The only thing that I can figure is that it might involve the pan that I use which holds a lot of batter in each cup. Maybe the sheer volume of the thing overwhelms the chemisty somehow. Each cup will hold almost a cup of batter though I don't fill them full. What do you think?

 

[Selkie]

Popovers

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus 1 teaspoon room temperature for pan
• 4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease a 6-cup popover pan with the 1 teaspoon of butter.
Place all of the ingredients into a food processor or blender and process for 30 seconds. Divide the batter evenly between the cups of the popover pan, each should be about 1/3 to 1/2 full. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the popovers to a cooling rack and pierce each in the top with a knife to allow steam to escape. Serve warm.

Serves 6.

 

[Mama]

I saw an episode of Cooks Country recently that had Perfect Popovers on it. Here is what they discovered in the test kitchen:

From the episode: Old-Fashioned Roast Beef Dinner

We create a foolproof recipe that produces tall popovers with a crisp exterior and custardy interior every single time.
Test Kitchen Discoveries

• The standard popover batter made for skimpy popovers, so we increased the amount of eggs, milk, and butter.
• We chose bread flour for its high protein content, which gave the highest rise and crispest crust. Resting the batter for an hour before baking gave the proteins in the flour time to relax and prevented the popovers from setting up too quickly.
• Use low–fat milk instead of whole milk for a higher–rising, moist finished product. Heating the milk also allows the batter to come together with less mixing, which is key to avoiding an overworked batter and tough popovers.
• We had the best results baking the popovers first at high heat to initiate the rise, then turning the oven down so the interior would be done at the same time as the crust.

Here is the recipe and instructions:

3 large eggs
2 cups of 1% Milk, heated to 110 degrees
3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 cups Bread Flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Granulated Sugar


Adjust over rack to lower-middle position heat to 450 degrees. Grease interior of 6-cup popover pan with shortening (or spray, but not butter), then dust lightly with flour. Whisk eggs until light and foamy in medium bowl. Slowly whisk in milk and butter until incorporated.

Combine flour, salt and sugar in large bowl. Whisk 3/4 of milk mixture into flour mixture until no lumps remain, then whisk in remaining milk mixture. Transfer batter to large measuring cup, cover with plastic, and let rest at room temperature for one hour. (Alternatively, batter can be refrigerated for one day. Bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.)

Whisk batter to recombine, then poor into prepared popover pan (batter will not quite reach top of cups). Bake until just beginning to brown about 20 minutes. Without opening oven door, decrease oven temperature to 300 degrees and continue to bake until popovers are golden brown all over, 35 to 40 minutes longer. Poke small hole in top of each popover with skewer and continue to bake until deep golden brown, about ten minutes longer. Transfer popover pan to wire rack. Poke again with skewer and let cool two minutes. Turn out popovers. Serve.

Make ahead: Once popovers have cooled completely, they can be stored at room temperature in ziplock bag for two days. To serve, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat over to 400 degrees. Heat popovers on rimmed baking sheet until crisp and heated through, five to eight minutes.


Number of Servings: 6

Hope this will help.

 

[joesfolk]

Hmmm...maybe it's the bread flour though in the past when they worked they were made with ap flour. I'll try the two recipes in the next few days and see what happens. Thanks guys.

 

[taxlady]

Why do you want them hollow? Or did I misunderstand?

 

[Mama]

That's just the type of roll it is. They are supposed to be hollow.

 

[jennyema]

They are supposed to be airy and moist inside, like a French cruller.

I have a policed pan with 6 cups and each cup would hold only about 1/2 to 3/4 cup if totally full,but I only fill halfway.

 

[joesfolk]

What isa policed pan? Never heard of it.

 

[jennyema]

What isa policed pan? Never heard of it.

A "policed" pan is what you get when your iPhone autocorrects your misspelled "popover" pan. Sorry. I need to review before pressing send.

The iPhone's autocorrect feature can be both maddening and funny: Damn You Auto Correct! - Funny iPhone Fails and Autocorrect Horror Stories

 

[LAJ]

If they are hollow you can fill them with tasty gobs of butter... popovers are fun to make and easy for a beginning cook to learn.

 

[joesfolk]

Unfortunately I am nothing like a beginning cook. I just can't figure out what is going wrong. They used to turn out right.

 

[JMediger]

I have had a problem with them not popping at all. Good luck with the new recipe - post how it goes and give us all back our faith in good popovers!

 

[LAJ]

Joesfolk, I did not mean to imply that you were a novice cook. But, I have always found then to be super easy. I bet you are a mean cooking machine...

 

[joesfolk]

Doctor put dd on a diet today so it looks like I won't be making popovers for a while unless I make them while she is in school but then I would have to eat them all by myself...what to do... what to do