Popovers, which are a close relative to “dutch babies” and Yorkshire pudding, are a very simple quick bread. No yeast, no rise, just four ingredients with egg as the leavening agent. But very yummy as a bread side dish with dinner (or breakfast!) or as an afternoon snack.This originated as a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. The magic of popovers is a crispy outside crust and a soft, silky interior. And that’s all about timing: how quickly they rise versus how quickly the outer crust forms, since when the crust hardens over they can’t rise any more. In this case, the temperature of the ingredients at the beginning makes a huge difference (and is a great general lesson for paying attention to ingredient temperatures, especially when baking).
The one hard part about this recipe is that the popovers stick hard when baked: to a teflon pan (even one sprayed generously with nonstick spray) and even to baking cups. I went through several iterations of experimentation before I found the one approach that guaranteed they would not stick — check out the video or the recipe to find out how.
Recipe here.
Enjoy,
Kevin
