Easy Popover Recipe - The Carefree Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

Why don t my popovers puff up? ›

Preheating your oven to the correct temperature is probably the most important thing you can do to ensure popover success. The hotter your oven, the higher your popovers will rise. Which makes sense: the faster liquid in the batter turns into steam, the more chance your popover has to expand before its crust sets.

To make ahead: You can make the batter and refrigerate it for up to one day before baking.

My biggest tip for creating perfect popovers is to use warm milk and room-temperature eggs with absolutely no chill on them. Do not take the milk and eggs from the fridge and use them. Cold ingredients will give you dense popovers. Warm ingredients will give you light, airy, and perfect popovers.

The flour needs some time to absorb into the liquid, which not only thickens the batter a bit, it also allows the gluten molecules to relax which makes for a lighter, not chewy popover. The resting period also makes the batter more velvety and helps allow air bubbles to release.

using room temperature eggs (see recipe for how to quickly bring your eggs to room temperature) room temperature milk (see recipe for how to quickly bring your milk to room temperature) hot oven. bread or all-purpose flour: for especially loft popovers, bread flour is your gal!

Similar to pancakes, it's fine to see some lumps in the popover batter before pouring them into the baking pan. If you over-mix, then your popovers won't rise properly, or will fall. Generously butter your popover pan in an upward direction. This directs the batter to rise up while it cooks.

Tips for perfect popovers

-- For best results, refrigerate the batter one to 24 hours before baking - the longer the better. -- Fill cups two-thirds full, or almost to the top. -- To give the popovers greater stability, heat the empty pans in a preheated oven two to three minutes before filling.

In order to prevent the pudding from collapsing and turning soft, MasterClass recommends turning popovers out onto a cooling rack and then delicately piercing a hole in the bottom.

Whisk in the butter, and let the batter rest for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, the little lumps will have risen to the top. Give the batter a few more good licks with the whisk to recombine. Grease a standard muffin tin.

If you are having problems with popovers not popping, try decreasing your flour or adding an egg if you have already tried all the other tricks and you are sure that, like me, you are doing everything right.

What's wrong with my popovers? ›

SF Gate claims that if your bakes are flat and dense, rather than tall and puffy, you must adjust your ingredient ratios. Usually, the batter consists of a simple egg, milk, and flour mix but if you add too much flour, the batter will be too dense and your popovers won't have the power to rise.

Finished popovers will be golden-brown, feel dry to the touch, and sound hollow when tapped. Prick with a Knife, Cool, and Eat!: Turn the popovers out onto a drying rack. Pierce the bottoms with a knife to allow steam to escape. Cool just enough so they can be handled and then eat immediately.

Brush the popover pan with melted butter or oil (preferably canola). I love those nonstick sprays, but I've noticed that the popovers are more likely to collapse if I use them. Either the sides don't get firm enough to hold the popover's shape or they stick to the pan.

Let the steam escape once they're done baking.

Popovers lose their crispiness if they linger in the pan, so turn them out on a wire rack immediately and make a small slit in the side of each with a paring knife to let the steam out.

Place popover pans on an 11 x 17 baking tray and place in the oven while you are preheating. The popover pan must be hot for best results.

Popover pans are designed to convey heat directly to the batter, which is quite wet. As the batter bakes, that heat turns the moisture into steam, causing the popovers' dramatic rise. The deep cups of a popover pan give the batter plenty of room to rise, and provide support for the sides of the popovers as they do so.

An additional trick for keeping popovers crisp is to gently poke a hole in the side of each one with a sharp knife when you remove it from the pan to allow extra team to escape without deflating the crust dome.

Eggs. Eggs provide the steam that makes a popover pop, and provide structure in the form of more protein. The yolks also act as an emulsifier for a smooth and even texture in the finished product. The eggs also add flavor to the popover.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 15 minutes more, or until popovers are puffed and browned.