Dear Eric: Since moving to the West Coast several years ago from Nova Scotia, I am unable to make a decent Yorkshire pudding or popover I used to pride myself for Down East. Can you give me a couple of hints — is it the flour out here, or what? We have the popover tins sizzling with hot oil and the oven at 450 F, but still they do not rise.
Wendy Appleyard
Dear Wendy: The all-purpose flour you purchase in B.C. would be the same as flour in Nova Scotia. But our wet winters — even damper than Nova Scotia’s — may cause it to absorb moisture if not kept in a tight-sealing container, or if you bought a giant bag and it has been sitting around for a while.
That moisture can increase the flour’s weight and make the amount you measure out for your Yorkshire pudding heavier, make the batter thicker than normal and therefore cause the pudding to not rise as well.
Start measuring flour by sifting more than you’ll need into a bowl. The sifting will aerate — introduce air into — the flour and give it the texture it had when first milled.
When measuring, rather than dipping the measuring cup into the flour, which will compact its volume, spoon the flour into the cup until overflowing. Now use the flat side of a knife to scrape off the excess and level off the cup. Do not shake the cup to make level, as that again can cause the flour to compact.
You could, of course, weigh your flour to ensure you are using the exact same amount each time. The great resource for bakers, joyofbaking.com, says one cup equals 140 grams.
I used to make my popovers (Yorkshire pudding made in a muffin pan) as you described, by pouring the batter into an oiled, smoking-hot pan. But as noted in a previously published story a few years ago, a cooking colleague showed me another technique.
He would simply pour the batter into a muffin pan (which he’d liberally sprayed with vegetable oil) at room temperature. Into the oven it goes and — poof! — beautiful Yorkshire puddings are created, minus the burns one sometimes gets when using the other method. The recipe is below; see its introduction for preparation tips.
No-Fuss Yorkshire Pudding
These are no-fuss because you don’t have to preheat the pan. Use a good-quality, non-stick muffin pan to make these Yorkshire puddings. If you use an old, battered pan, they’ll stick. You can bake the puddings a few hours in advance, cool them a bit, remove them from the pan, set them on a baking sheet and cover them. When ready to serve, quickly reheat them in a 350 F oven about 5 minutes.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 to 50 minutes
Makes: 12 puddings.
6 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• pinch nutmeg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• vegetable oil spray
Set an oven rack in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
Place the eggs in a bowl and beat until well blended. Whisk in the milk, water, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk in the flour until just combined.
Very thoroughly grease a non-stick, 12-cup muffin pan with vegetable-oil spray. Pour in the batter, filling each slot almost to the top. Bake for 10 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 325°F (160°C) and bake 35 to 40 minutes more, or until the Yorkshire puddings are puffed and golden and almost dry in the centre.
Set on a baking rack and cool a few minutes. When the pan is cool enough to handle, carefully remove the Yorkshire puddings.
More to oatmeal than I thought
Earlier this month, I answered a question on the different forms of oats. A reader named Pat wrote to say I had missed one: Scottish oatmeal.
I had written about rolled and steel-cut oats. The latter is also called Scottish oats, so I incorrectly assumed I had covered all the bases. However, products labelled steel-cut or Scottish oats, and those labelled Scottish oatmeal, are two different things.
Steel-cut oats are made from oat groats (kernels) cut into pieces with a steel blade. The method for turning steel-cut oats into porridge involves simmering them 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how chewy you like them.
According to Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, a company that packages and sells Scottish oatmeal, it is made by stone-grinding the oat groats into a coarse meal. They say the process originated in Scotland centuries ago and preserves the best quality of the oats — the germ, oil and fibre.
Because the oats are in the form of coarse meal, you can simmer them into porridge a little faster than you can with steel-cut oats. Scottish oatmeal can also be incorporated into other recipes and Pat told me they were great in pancakes. Below is a recipe I adapted — with help from Pat — from one I had that originally used rolled oats. The resulting pancakes are surprisingly light and beautifully textured. Add a little maple syrup and butter and they get even better.Scottish Oatmeal Pancakes with Buttermilk and Apple
This recipe yields a family-sized 20 to 24 pancakes. However, the recipe could easily be halved if you’re feeding a smaller group. Any leftover pancakes reheat well the next day in the microwave.
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus overnight soaking time
Cooking time: five to six minutes per batch of pancakes
Makes: 20 to 24 (4- to 5-inch) pancakes
2 cups Scottish oatmeal (see Note)
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp buttermilk
2 large egg, beaten
1 cup peeled, finely chopped apple
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• vegetable oil or cooking spray
Combine oats and 2 cups buttermilk in a bowl. Cover, refrigerate and let oatmeal steep in the buttermilk overnight.
Add the oil, 3 Tbsp buttermilk, beaten eggs and apple to the oat mixture and gently mix to combine.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a second bowl. Now mix the dry ingredients into the oat mixture until just combined. (Batter will be thick, but will spread nicely when heated on the cooking surface.)
Preheat a nonstick electric griddle to medium, medium-high heat. (Or use a non-stick or cast-iron skillet on the stovetop.) Lightly coat the cooking surface with oil or cooking spray. With a small ladle, pour 10- to 12-cm rounds of batter on the griddle, leaving a five-cm space between them. Flip the pancakes when the top is speckled with small bubbles. Continue cooking until the underside is browned and the centre of the pancake springs back when touched. Serve cooked pancakes immediately or keep warm on a baking sheet in a 200 F oven until all are done.
Note: The Scottish oatmeal used in this recipe was Bob’s Red Mill brand.
