An update on my progress in developing a recipe for whole wheat milk/lactose free popovers.
After numerous tries, I've finally got a recipe that seems to work. The info on whole wheat flour having the sharp bran flecks led me to think that ww pastry flour would be a better solution. Mary's comments about spooning the flour into the measuring cup and leveling it with a straightedge to make the flour more fluffy/airy led me to think that I might have too much flour in the mix. Another comment that too much flour would turn the batter into a muffin mix led me to think that a 1 to 1 milk/soymilk to flour ratio was wrong. The comments about the protein content in soy milk confirmed the idea that it would probably work. And Voila! They really popped, in both the cast iron and in the larger cone shaped pans. The proportions are as follows:
2 cups soy milk
1 1/2 cups ww pastry flour
4 eggs (left out to warm up to room temperature)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
First spray the popover pan with a canola cooking spray(it seems to work better with high heat)
Put the pan in the oven on a cookie sheet and bring up the temperature to 450 degrees.
Mix the soy milk, eggs, and oil with an electric hand mixer until there are lots of bubbles.
Add the flour using the spooning method above.
Add the salt.
Mix the flour into the liquid mix using the electric hand mixer on high speed, scraping the sides of the container down with a spatula after 40 seconds or so. Mix for 10-15 seconds more.
Take hot pan out of the oven and pour batter into the cups filling them 2/3 to 3/4 full.
Put the pan back into the oven.
Raise the temperature to 460 degrees and cook for 25 minutes.
Without opening the oven door lower the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 20-25 minutes.
Take out of oven and eat!
A couple of extra notes:
My guess is that the higher temperature is important because there is less fat in the soymilk than there is in whole milk which means that more ambient heat is needed to keep the steam leavening process working. I suspect that the fat in the milk makes it retain heat longer and cool less quickly than the soymilk which has a higher water content.
The longer cooking time is somehow related to the higher water content of the soymilk.
For a filling/topping I make an apple/pear butter. In a ratio of one apple to one pear, I wash, core and puree them in a blender/chopper, put them in a bowl, add cinnamon (the amount depends on your taste) and chill in the refrigerator.
Sometimes, I will chop strawberries into very small pieces, add Splenda (I am diabetic)/sugar to taste, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
Mike, thank you SO much for this. Readers, give this a try and see how you like them - I'll get to them as soon as I have a free moment... Again, Mike, thanks for your valuable contribution here- PJH
March 23, 2009 at 11:18am