Whole Wheat Popovers January 23
You don’t need a popover pan to make popovers. A muffin tin will work perfectly well, even though you will only need to use 6 of the muffin. The only real reason to have a popover pan is that it gives you a good incentive to make popovers more often. I know this to be true because I got one not too long ago and have been making popovers far more often than I normally do. The light, crispy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside puffs are easy to make and are a great accompaniment at just about any meal, whether it’s soaking up gravy at dinner or being slathered with jam at breakfast.
My basic popover recipe is reliable and produces a light, tender puff. I recently set to work on creating a whole wheat popover for some variety. Whole wheat flour doesn’t take to popovers as well as all purpose flour does. It has less gluten in it and is heavier, so the popovers tend to not rise as high and be far more bread-like than regular popovers. The best way I’ve found to incorporate whole wheat flour is actually to use white whole wheat (it’s lighter than regular whole wheat) and mix in some all purpose flour to restore a little bit of the lacking lightness.
The remade popovers are more substantial than their entirely all purpose counterparts, but still have a crispy outer edge and a soft, moist interior. In every batch, I had one stubborn popover that would not develop the big hole in the center that is a popover signature even though the others always turned out just fine. If this happens to you, don’t worry about it. The popover will still be tasty, just a little more filling than the others in the batch.
Whole Wheat Popovers
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
extra melted butter, for the pan
Preheat the oven to 425F.
Grease a popover pan or a 6-cup muffin tin (or the middle 6 cups of a 12-cup tin) well with the melted butter and place in preheated oven for 1-2 minutes while you make the popover batter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter and salt until smooth. Sift flours over egg mixture and whisk until smooth.
Remove heated muffin tin from oven and divide the batter evenly into the buttered popover/muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes at 425F, then rotate the pan (to ensure even cooking) and reduce oven heat to 350F. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Poke each popover with a knife when you rotate the pan to help release steam and “set” the popovers.
Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Serve immediately.
Makes 6 popovers.
Diane Jan 23
There isn’t white whole wheat flour where I live, but there is whole wheat pastry flour. Do you think that is an acceptable substitute? I’ve never made popovers and would like to try them. Thanks for any input you have on this question.
Nicole Jan 23
Diane - Yes, whole wheat pastry flour is a good substitute for white whole wheat.
CookiePie Jan 24
Great idea! And they look amazing.
DrMeglet Jan 24
Thank you, I love popovers, and have been wondering what to try with the white whole wheat flour I bought.
Two tips: I make my (regular) popovers by mixing the ingredients in a blender, it seems to get them fluffier than using an electric mixer, which I used to do. In the electric mixer days there would always be one or two short not-so-fluffy popovers, usually in the middle of the batch. (I use the Joy of Cooking Recipe).
The other is that to melt the butter, I melt it in one corner of the popover pan while the oven is preheating. The milk and eggs go into a pyrex measuring cup in the same preheating oven for a few minutes to come up to “room temperature”, because I’m never prepared enough to have them out in advance.
Diane Jan 24
Thanks for the advice, Nicole. I have had some WW pastry flour for a while now in my freezer, but didn’t really know what to try with it. Now I know.
DIDEM Jan 24
l like popovers so much they looks wonderful:)
Steph Jan 24
I used to go to ‘Popover Cafe’ all the time in nyc. That is the only place I have ever had popovers and they were such a treat - thanks for posting this! - I will definitely have to make them. And whole wheat? Even better!
p.s. I am a new blogger but I have been reading yours for quite sometime and added you to my blogroll. =)
Sara Jan 24
I was thinking about trying to make whole wheat popovers with whole wheat pastry flour - I’ll let you know the results if I try it!
Allison Jan 24
Thie recipe sounds delicious and is a great incentive for me to finally get a popover pan. I’ve never been able to justify it before because I don’t really need one more baking pan overcrowding my itty-bitty kitchen
bill in norway Jan 25
Popovers ! popovers !! What you people have here is the marvelous ‘Yorkshire Pudding’ which is the indispensable side dish to the great English traditional Sunday Lunch. In different areas of northern England they serve them as a savoury starter with the gravy from the roast meat. If you had a large family mother would often use a large pie dish or even a bigger roasting tray and cut up and share the resulting Y. P. Thise tray and pudding was used for the equally ancient (and cheap) and delicious ‘Toad In The Hole’ Now I’m reliving my childhood - yummy !!!
Laura Jan 28
Thanks to you, I finally used my popover pan! But I didn’t get the big hole in the center of any of them . . . . What could I have done wrong?
Nicole Jan 29
Laura - Whole wheat flour is a little heavier than all purpose and forms gluten less easily. Mixing it a little bit longer might help, and making sure the eggs are at room temperature when you start should help, too. Sorry it didn’t work out the first time!
jennifer and the beans Feb 13
My 11-year-old daughter just made these for us and they were delectable!!!
Indian curry Oct 29
thank you for the recipe..it is very delicious!