Popovers

Introduction:
     Steam is a physical process by which air is introduced to food.  Recipes rely on steam as part of their leavening.  Traditionally, popovers are made in specialized popover cups that are designed as narrow cups with a slight slope that gives good heat retention.  A popover is tender, and most of its structure comes from egg and gelatinized starch.  A high temperature produces steam and creates its structure.  It is important to not open the oven during baking because opening the oven door will drop the air temperature, causing popovers to lose steam that is critical to their rise.
     Gluten also affects the inside and crust of the popover.  Gluten does not readily develop with large amount of liquids, so popovers rely on protein coagulation and starch gelatinization for structure. Increasing the content of gluten, gelatinizes and sets the holes left by the gas bubbles remains.  The popovers will rise even more with the addition of gluten.  It is essential to add eggs to this batter in order for the popover to expand properly.  It is also important not to add too much flour to the mixture which will weaken popover structure and allow steam to escape.
     This recipe demonstrates a baked good leavened by steam.      


Materials:
1 1/4 cups non fat milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 oven
1 muffin tin


Procedure:
1. Whisk together the milk, eggs, flour, melted butter, and salt.
2. Preheat the oven and heat the muffin tin at 425 degrees Fahrenheit
3. Grease the muffin tin with butter
4. Fill each cup about 1/2 full with batter and bake for 15 min
5. Bake for 20 min at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
6. Serve


Results:


1. Whisk together 1 1/4 cups non fat milk, 3 large eggs, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt

2. Preheat the oven and heat the muffin tin at 425 degrees Fahrenheit

3. Grease the muffin tin with butter

4. Fill each cup about 1/2 full with batter and bake for 15 min

5. Bake for 20 min at 350 degrees Fahrenheit

6. Serve

Discussion:
     The purpose of this recipe is to leavened a baked good through the use of steam.  This recipe was successful because the popovers clearly rose as indicated in the picture above.  The batter had enough air bubbles to capture heat and expand the bread.  The taste of the popovers was very plain, and in the future I will add a custard inside to increase the flavor.  Currently, the popover is eaten with a jam to create a flavor.  Also in the future I will spray the muffin tins with a cooking spray to ensure the popover will be removed easily.  I did not spread the butter evenly over the entire muffin tin and it took a long time to remove the popover.  This ultimately led to the popover to shrink in size due to the rupture of air bubbles.
     In the future I would experiment with different types of flour in order to determine how gluten affects the popover.  It would also be interesting to see how a popover tin, and various types of containers would affect the exposure of steam of a popover.

Citation:
Potter, Jeff. Cooking for Geeks. Sebastopol: O'Reilly, 2010. Print.