KING + DUKE WHITE CHEDDAR POPOVERS

These white cheddar popovers are part of the bread service at King + Duke, and the recipe was created by Chrysta Poulos, director of pastry for Rocket Farm Restaurants.

For the showiest results, use a popover pan with cups that are 2 inches wide and 2 1/5 inches deep. These pans are readily available and come in sizes that bake six or 12 popovers at a time. Popover pans have deep, steep-sided wells that force the batter up while baking so your popovers end up with crisp sides and a puffy top. This recipe will result in dense popovers as opposed to the hollow ones.

At the restaurant, a batch this size would be made with six extra-large eggs. Because we test recipes with large eggs, we weighed out both extralarge and large eggs by volume and found that seven large eggs were the equivalent. Poulos recommends using King Arthur flour. We mixed our batter in a 5-quart stand mixer and found we needed every bit of that volume to accommodate the batter. 4⅓ cups whole milk

7 large eggs

5⅔ cups all-purpose flour 5¾ teaspoons kosher salt 1½ teaspoons baking powder 2 cups shredded white cheddar,

divided

Pour milk into a medium saucepan and warm over low heat to 110 degrees, about 5 minutes.

While milk is warming, add eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk eggs on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. When the milk reaches 110 degrees, reduce mixer speed to medium and slowly add milk. Mix 2 minutes. While mixer is running, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Turn mixer off and add flour mixture at once. Turn mixer onto low and mix 1 to 2 minutes or until flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat 3 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer and using whisk attachment, scrape around the sides of the bowl to be sure all flour is incorporated. Pour batter into a

container and let rest at least 2 hours before using.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 450 degrees and put popover pan in oven to heat.

When oven is heated and pan is smoking hot, remove pan from oven, spray wells evenly with nonstick cooking spray and pour in batter almost to the top of the well. Top each with 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar. Put pan into oven immediately and bake about 25 minutes or until popovers are puffed and golden brown. Resist the urge to peek before 20 minutes because you’ll release the hot air of the oven and may cause the popovers to collapse. When popovers are done, remove from oven and gently turn the pan over to release the popovers. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying with nonstick cooking spray before baking.

Makes 16 popovers.

Per popover: 290 calories (percentage of calories from fat, 30), 13 grams protein, 38 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 9 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 102 milligrams cholesterol, 877 milligrams sodium.

STYLING BY KING + DUKE PASTRY CHEF CHRYSTA POULOS; CHRIS HUNT FOR THE AJC Buckhead’s King + Duke kitchen turns out as many as 600 White Cheddar Popovers an evening, overseen by Chrysta Poulos, director of pastry.