Despite its popularity, Yorkshire puddings are not my favourite part of a Christmas dinner. It could be down to the fact that I’ve never had them homemade; we’ve always had shop-bought Yorkshire puddings. However, this year I’m keen to make them for the Christmas dinner.
With there being so many Yorkshire pudding recipes from chefs on the internet, all claiming to be the best, it’s hard to decide which one to go for. Having cooked many recipes from Mary Berry and them turning out successful, I opted for her “super simple but effective” recipe. What’s more, Mary’s recipe only requires three main ingredients and four easy steps.
The main thing you want out of Yorkshire puddings is for them to be crisp and rise perfectly, and Mary claims that the key to this is to “add more eggs and omit a little milk”.
It is recommended to use semi-skimmed over whole milk, and that’s what I used. For those who have whole milk, they can replace a quarter of the milk with water.
Ingredients (makes 12)
100g of plain flourOne quarter teaspoon of saltThree large eggs225ml of semi-skimmed milkFour tablespoons of vegetable/sunflower oil
Method
To give my Yorkshire puddings the best chance of rising, I decided to make them a little in advance. Mary said that leaving the batter is “definitely beneficial”.
To make the batter, I mixed the flour and salt in a bowl and made a well in the centre. I then added the eggs and a little of the milk.
I whisked until smooth, then gradually added the remaining milk. This can be done with a wooden spoon, but I found it easier to use an electric hand-held whisk.
I then poured the mixture into a jug and left it to rest for two hours before preheating the oven.
Resting helps them rise fully during cooking because it allows the gluten to ‘relax’ and relaxed gluten is more stretchy.
The chef said that it’s ideal to rest the batter for at least 30 minutes and up to two hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge.
I preheated the oven to 200C Fan/220C/Gas 7 before measuring a teaspoon of oil into each hole of a six-bun tray.
I transferred the tray to the oven for 10 minutes to make the oil piping hot. It is very important to get the oil piping hot, or the Yorkshires will be a fail.
After 10 minutes, I carefully removed the tray from the oven and poured the batter equally between the holes. As soon as I poured the batter in, it started to set and cook, so it was vital to work fast.
I quickly returned the tray to the oven and cooked them for 25 minutes. The Yorkshire puddings came out of the oven golden-brown and well-risen.
