Julia Child's Popovers A Classic Recipe Made Easy (2024)

FAQs

What is the best flour to use for popovers? ›

Seeking Optimal Lift and Crispness

Not only were popovers made with bread flour about 30 percent taller than those made with all-purpose flour, but their higher walls were also thinner, making them a bit more crisp, and that crispness held up as they cooled. Bread flour was in. Next up: the milk.

The container forms the steam released in the oven heat into one giant bubble. This steam is contained with gluten from flour proteins, starch, and protein from eggs. So the popover literally 'pops' with steam, but the steam doesn't escape because the stretchy protein holds it inside the batter.

Dense popovers (either from not rising or not getting nice hollows inside) can result from a couple things but usually it is by either not starting with room temperature eggs and milk, not preheating the popover pan, not using a quality popover tin, and/or making too thick of a batter.

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.

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.

Let the Batter Rest

3) Allow the batter to sit at room temperature for 1 hour before baking or, preferably. cover and refrigerate it for 24 up to 48 hours. Allow it to come to room temperature.

Make the batter in a blender; make it with a whisk. Beat till smooth and frothy; leave some lumps. Everything should be at room temperature. Everything should be lukewarm.

Whisk till all the big lumps disappear; smaller lumps are OK. 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.

Remove from oven:

Popovers lose their crunch if they linger in the pan, so turn them out on a wire rack immediately and poke a small opening in the side of each with a paring knife to let the steam escape. Serve right away.

A popover pan should be greased. I prefer to use melted butter, but oil or nonstick spray would work too. Greasing the pan ensures that the finished popovers don't stick and promotes browning on the exterior of the popover. After you've greased your pan, place it into the oven while it preheats.

What happens to an underbaked popover? ›

If your popovers lose volume when they come out of the oven, they are probably underbaked. When these airy baked goods aren't cooked enough, too much steam stays trapped inside. That moisture condenses once they're removed from the oven, causing them to collapse.

The oven and pan needs to be VERY hot. Be sure to preheat the popover pan when you preheat the oven. You'll need to spray the pan very generously as well. The batter should sizzle when you pour it into the pan.

What to Serve With Popovers. Popovers are great to have with soup, salad, or alongside roast chicken, roast beef, or just about anything you would serve with rolls. They're also fantastic as a breakfast treat, sprinkled with confectioner's sugar and served with butter and jam.

Yorkshire Pudding/ Popovers

Yorkshire Puddings are a staple in England with a Roast Dinner. Here in the US we know them as Popovers which are the same thing as the modern Yorkshire Pudding, except using a different pan.

Rice flour and cornstarch work particularly well because they fry up crispier than wheat flour. They also absorb less moisture and fat during the frying process, making the products less greasy. This is why rice flour is often used when making tempura because it produces a very thin and crispy, dry crust.

All-purpose flour has 8-11% gluten in it. It can be used to make things like waffles, pie crusts, pastries, and cookies. Bread flour has the highest amounts of gluten at 12-14%, and works well in yeast products.

While all-purpose flour is fine and can be used successfully for homemade puff pastry, we recommend using strong bread flour like this for best results. Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, and therefore, contains more gluten.

You can use either bleached or unbleached all purpose flour. Eggs – You'll need 3 large eggs to make the recipe as written, though the recipe will work fine with just 2 eggs, if you prefer. I add an extra egg here, as I like an egg-y Yorkshire myself. Experiment and use whichever you prefer.