Food - Drink
The Reason Your Popovers Turned Out Dense
By NATASHA BAILEY
Popovers are a Northeastern American pastry made from simple ingredients like flour, eggs, milk, and butter, and are defined by their super-airy, pocket-filled interior. Old-fashioned popovers are relatively easy to make, but it's a huge disappointment when your popovers don't "pop" at all, and instead fall into a flat and dense texture.
For a popover that rises in the oven properly, creating a fluffy, golden bun with a soft center and flaky edges, use all-purpose flour. This flour has a solid gluten structure to capture all the steam that rises when the popovers are baked, but the batter's consistency is even more important, and must be thin in order to avoid dense popovers.
If your popover batter is thick, adjust your ingredient ratios to include less flour; even if you use the right flour, too much of it makes your popovers dense. It's also extremely important to preheat your oven properly, because the hotter the oven, the higher the popovers will rise, and a special popover pan can make things even easier.