POPOVERS - Daring Bakers' Challenge - February 2012

Leia em PORTUGUÊS

Popovers bring me fond memories of my childhood, but I didn't know that those very puffy and delicious treats were actually popovers. My mother got the recipe from a Brazilian friend who had lived  in the US. Seems like her friend gave the recipe a Brazilian name: Popófe.

Popófe became such a vivid memory of our childhood, that even after so many years when I asked my mother and my sisters if they remembered it they all replied a big "Yes, of course! That recipe that was written on a little piece of paper and that started with 7/8 cup of something?" they asked. That's it! The first ingredient was 7/8 cup of milk or flour, but quite an unusual measurement for a recipe.

Nowadays, many years later, with all the globalization, the internet to inform us of just about anything we want, and with my gastronomic curiosity, I started seeing many recipes online called Popovers and I started suspecting that they might be the Popófes of my childhood. The name was similar and they looked so familiar, which lead me to think that my mother's friend might have learned this recipe while living in the US and gave it a more "Brazilian accent". The reason why I think that she was the author of the new name is because I searched the web and couldn't find anything called Popófe :o)

I don't usually keep old papers in my house, I love the digital era and I'm sure that in a near future nothing is going to be printed on paper anymore. I'm a very allergic person and old paper means allergy attacks to me.  But not to my sister who sometimes shows up with some really funny stuff from the past. I was quite sure she  still had a copy of the Popófe recipe. I'm glad that I'm half a world away from this paper and can still look at it without sneezing! By the way, the 7/8 cup ingredient was milk! And I have just googled "7/8 cup + popovers" and found many popover recipes that still carry this amount of milk. Bingo! Now I'm SURE that POPÓFE = POPOVER!!!

Photo courtesy of my sister...   atchoo !!!

Well, it's time to move on to this month's Daring Bakers' challenge, Quick Breads. As a Brazilian I could never really understand why quick breads are called breads, as they look like cakes to me. But after this challenge I learned that they are quick because they are not yeasted, thus not requiring rising times, and bread because they are baked in loaf pans. Also, it is a general name for muffins, biscuits (scones), popovers and so on. It was good to learn the real meaning of Quick Breads!

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

When I saw that popovers were considered quick breads, I instantly decided that they were the ones I would make for this challenge, as it had been a while since I wanted to find out if popovers were the same as "popófes". Turns out they ARE! 

I also made a Quick Bread version of my Tangerine Cake that now can also be called Tangerine Bread!

And, coming up soon, Banana Bread! I made it just before posting time and need a little more time to write about it. Stay tuned :o)

Now it's time for the Popover recipe, but fisrt, a few notes:

• popover batter resembles crepe batter.
• it puffs up a lot, but does not require baking powder.
• there are special pans for making popovers. I don't have one, so I used small Korean teacups that are heat resistant. Be creative to choose your popover pan substitute, but make sure it is oven-proof!
• This is what a popover pan looks like:

POPOVERS

(recipe adapted from Second Floor Walkup)

Makes 6

1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

1 cup milk

1 tbsp butter, melted (+ a little more for the cups)

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).

Grease the cups with butter and add a tiny piece of butter in the bottom of each cup. Arrange cups in a baking tray and put them in the preheating oven.

Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk well until smooth.

Remove pan with cups from the oven and fill cups halfway with batter.

Bake at 220°C (425°F) for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 180°C (350°F) and bake for further 20 minutes until golden brown. Do not open the oven door while baking.

Popped into the oven:

10 minutes later:

15 minutes later:

20 minutes later:

Thanks Lis, for the AMAZING challenge!

Please visit THE DARING KITCHEN to see the amazing creations of the other participants, where you will also find the original recipes and guidelines for this challenge.