No-Fail Popovers

Why This Recipe Works

The ideal popover is crisp and well browned on the outside and hollow on the inside, with inner walls that are lush and custardy. Bread flour gave our batter extra gluten-forming proteins so that it was stretchy enough to accommodate the expanding steam within the popover more effectively than batter made with a lower-protein flour would. Though many recipes call for preheating the popover pan to jump-start the “pop,” we found it equally effective (and a little safer) to warm the batter instead by adding heated milk. Greasing the cups of the popover pan very lightly allowed the batter to “climb” the sides of the cups for bases that were full and round instead of shrunken. Most recipes call for lowering the oven temperature after the popovers reach their maximum height to prevent the outsides from burning, but we found that zeroing in on the ideal baking temperature ensured a perfect bake inside and out, with less fuss.