Sunday mornings are always a mix of happiness that the weekend has not yet ended and dread that the work week is looming ahead. And depending on what happened the previous evening, a slight headache may also be lurking in the recesses of my brain. So one would assume breakfast on such occasions would be a low key affair, right? Well, you would be wrong. For me, Sunday breakfast is a chance to try out the recipe that’s been needling me, calling out to me and practically double dog daring me to make it. A few weekends ago, that recipe was Whole Wheat Parmesan Herb Popovers from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook.
I stumbled upon this cookbook at the suggestion of my blogger buddy Jenna. I asked her advice on finding a good, solid whole wheat/whole grain baking book and she pointed me in the direction of King Arthur flour’s site. Considering how much I love their flours, I had a good feeling about the quality of one of their cookbooks. I didn’t, however, expect it to be such a large volume of recipes, ranging from muffins and breads to delicate puff pastries and savory turnovers. The dang thing weighs almost as much as our cat Roo (and honestly, Roo has an ENORMOUS noggin). It took me quite a long time to read my way through the book and get a feel for what it had to offer. I still wasn’t sure what to make from it first…that is until The Boy presented me with this:
After years of making popovers in regular muffin tins, I had finally graduated to my very own popover pan! Faster than you could say “Holy Whole Wheat Flour, Batman”, I was throwing open my tome of whole wheat baking in search of a popover recipe. A little over 50 minutes later (including both prep and baking time), I had beautiful popovers on our table. I was quite surprised at how light and airy the popovers turned out, considering they were made of whole wheat. The trick? Whole wheat pastry flour. If you don’t have this in your baking arsenal, I strongly suggest you drop everything (well, not literally…you may damage your computer) and head to your nearest well equipped grocery store to get some. It turns whole wheat baking on its head…in a good way.
Recipe: Parmesan Herb Whole Wheat Popovers (from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking)
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbs unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tsp dried herbs de provence (or mix of your favorite dried herbs)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin or popover pan thoroughly (or two 6 cup muffin or popover pans).
- Place the ingredients in the order listed above into a blender, omitting the Parmesan cheese.
- Blitz the ingredients for 20 seconds, then stop it to scrape down the sides of the blender.
- Blitz for another 20 seconds or until the batter is smooth. Add the cheese and blitz for another 15 seconds.
- Fill each muffin or popover pan cup about two-thirds of the way with batter.
- Bake the popovers for 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes. DO NOT open the oven door during the baking time.
- Remove the popovers from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm (preferably with bacon).
Number of servings (yield): 12
Meal type: breakfast
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i’ve never made popovers but this and your previous recipe are making me want to!
if you like whole grain cooking, get “Good to the Grain”; it’s a newish cookbook and its awesome. I’m still reading through it and love so many of the recipes i can’t figure out where to start!
These looks delicious!
This looks great! I have some herbs de provence that could use some attention. Congrats on the popover pan! Where did you find it?
@ Casey – The Boy got the popover pan from Hills Kitchen DC, which I love!
@ Heather – You really should get to it and make some popovers! They’re easy to make and are so flaky and delicious! Let me know when you make your first batch!
Your pictures make these look so light and airy – can’t wait to try them!
I am going to try making these. I love baking with spelt! It makes things so moist. I prefer it to whole wheat flour.