How to Make Popovers, a Step-by-Step Guide (2024)

FAQs

What makes popovers pop up? ›

Lots of steam is a good thing, but you need something to trap that steam — which is where flour and eggs come in. The gluten in flour (and protein from the eggs) create the structure that traps steam in rising popovers.

Popover pans are distinguished from regular muffin tins by their deep, steep-sided wells. This forces the batter upwards and results in a popover with a puffy dome and crispy sides. Many popover pans have the cups welded to a wire rack. While this looks odd, it promotes even circulation of air and heat around the tins.

Serve: Popovers are best served warm from the oven. Serve them with dinner as you would a roll or enjoy them for breakfast with butter and jam.

The keys to baking popovers are to use a high oven temperature (I prefer 425° F) and to not disturb them (by opening the oven) during the process. I know, I know—I like to peek in on my baked goods, too. But this is one time you really should try to resist.

To create a popover, add the data-toggle="popover" attribute to an element. Note: Popovers must be initialized with jQuery: select the specified element and call the popover() method.

If you open the oven door the temperature inside can drop too quickly and the popovers will not rise properly. Whip the batter up really airy right before you add it to the pan they'll rise extra high.

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.

Plan Ahead: The batter will need to rest for at least 1 hour, up to 48 hours ahead. For the best flavor and texture let the batter rest for 24 hours. Always allow it to come to room temperature for an hour.

Do not over-mix your batter! 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.

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.

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.

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.

The popover is an American version of Yorkshire pudding and similar batter puddings made in England since the 17th century, The oldest known reference to popovers dates to 1850. The first cookbook to print a recipe for popovers was in 1876.

pop·​over ˈpäp-ˌō-vər. : a hollow quick bread shaped like a muffin and made from a thin batter of eggs, milk, and flour.

The high proportion of liquid in the batter creates steam that causes the popovers to puff up like the popover pictured below. The conversion of the liquid in the batter to steam is dramatic. One part liquid converts to 1600 parts steam.

If you don't want your beautiful popovers to collapse, simply use a sharp paring knife and pierce the bottom of the hot popovers to allow steam to escape and place them on a cooling rack. Do not let them cool in the pan, they'll lose their shape.

Popovers are a type of popup. They are on the same level as dialogs and other groups like alerts, notifications, lightboxes, etc. Popovers are typically non-modal. They usually don't use backdrops since dimming the interactive content wouldn't make sense.