Yorkshire puddings (individual ones) - mega fail!

[Tattyhead78]

I need your help, all you Yorkshire pudding makers! Not once in my entire life have I managed to make one successfully. I have followed all hints, not opening the oven until they're supposed to come out (25 minutes), have the fat / oil smoking hot, have oven at 220C or 230C, but they just don't come out the way I want them to. Either they don't rise at all or they do rise but are burnt on the outside and uncooked in the middle (I also can't get them to rise on the edge and have a dip in the middle). Oh, and mine also look disappointingly small, but could that be to do with the 12 hole bun tray I'm using? I'm sure my mum's tray she used had 6 holes that were slightly bigger...

So, I want to know all your secrets about temperature, proportions, what type of fat to use, what size of holes to use (diameters, please!) etc. Please don't suggest ready made, it's become my ambition to make these and I want to fulfil that ambition - I refuse to give up until I get it right! (DH can make excellent Yorkshires, but he has to do it from start to finish, if he makes the batter and I put it in the oven, they don't work - it's almost as if the puds can sense my desperation!)

Two words.

Aunt Bessies.

Never fail at Yorksire puds again.

Sainsburys own brand.

£1 for 12!

Am with deemented too!

25 mins is waay too long for 12 small yorkshires. I would reduce your cooking time to half that.

DO NOT BUY READY MADE

My recipe is:

6oz flour
2 eggs
enough milk to make a single cream consistency.

Electric hand mixer- this seems to make some difference.

shallow bun tin.

I found the secret to getting them to rise round the edge is to have hot fat and do not refill them/top them up.

You know you will get nothing but conflicting advice here though, don't you?

yy cooking time 15 mins max. I do mine at gas mark 8.

I have a four hole yorkie tin, I'd try one of these too. The Delia Snith recipe has never, ever failed me.

I always use 6 hole tray, not sure how much difference that makes.

I would recommend an oven thermometer, they are ace. You can get them for around £6 from lakeland or similar.

You wouldn't believe how much the actual temperature on a domestic oven can vary from what it says it is.

You also need to whisk them like fury to get loads of air in!

Failing that, Aunt Bessies. Nothing's worth that much stress!

Oh and you need ANIMAL FAT NOT OLIVE OIL! Unless of course you're a veggie :o

i think your oven may a little bit too hot if they are burning but still soggy, try 10degs under?

i use sunflower oil, and it really does have to be smoking hot before you pour the batter in, and pour the batter in as quickly as you can, before the tin cools down.

if your tin allows it (no poncey finish on the back etc) try standing it over a very low heat on the hob as you tip the batter in

i use (approx) 6oz plain flour, 2 eggs and a mix of milk/water to the right consistency and let it stand in fridge for at least an hour before using it.

5oz sieved plain flour into a large mixing bowl plus pinch of salt
Make a well in the flour and crack 1 egg into it pick out bits of shell
Mix 3fl oz milk and 2fl oz water in a jug and add to the flour/egg, whisking all the while, probably add the milk/water in 3 stages for ease of whisking
Use a hand balloon whisk (no need to faff about with elec)
Put oil into tin/s, (doesn't matter which type of oil or which size tins you use IME) heat til v hot then add yp mix
About 20 mins in hot oven

Think this might be Delia but can't remember, been doing it 20odd yrs, Always works for me

Yes, that's the Delia. No manic whisking or settling in fridges required. Always a winner.

1/2 pint (285 millilitres) milk
4 ounces (115 grams) all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
3 eggs
Vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 230 degrees C
Flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre and break your eggs into it along with a little bit of the milk. Mix till smooth, then add the rest of the milk gradually, and the salt. Get plenty of air into the mix. Let rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat a Yorkshire pudding tray or muffin tin with 1/2-inch (1 centimetre) of oil in each section. After the 30 minutes give the batter another quick stir and divide the batter into the tray. Cook for around 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and puffy, don't open the oven door before then or they won't rise.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
I use the same tray every time and don't use it for anything else but my Yorkshires. I also don't wash it, just wipe it out with kitchen roll - they get better and better each time. Make sure you're using a good non-stick tray (but it doesn't have to be expensive, mine was £3 in Dunelm Mill!)
If they're not cooking through it sounds like either you've not got them high enough in the oven or you've got a cold spot in there - do things cook faster in one part than another? (even fan ovens do this, especially if they're a bit older). You need to get them as near to an even heat as possible.
HTH :)

Oh dear I think Tether may have been right re conflicting advice :o

Poor op!

Well, I am getting some things right. I use either lard or sunflower oil. But if I put mine in for 20 minutes they do seem to be completely underdone. I am interested to hear that the oven might be too hot, as I always thought it was maybe cooking too cold.

Also, how full should the tins be?

Also yy to putting the tray over your job while you pour the batter in, keeps the oil at an even temp too

i cram as much batter into the tins as possible!

and it doesn't matter which size they are. which shelf do you use? and what sort of oven?

Pootles2010, I knew that I would get conflicting advice! If only I knew which bit I wasn't doing correctly! My DH and mum are always laughing at my abject failure to do YPs. It's very frustrating, as in most other areas of cooking, I am bloody excellent I am reasonably competent.

I am using an electric oven (not fan oven) and using the top shelf. I have a double oven and tried in both - no difference.

Thanks for all the tips so far by the way! I am looking forward to experimenting with these. I am not stressed about it, I think I've just become a tad obssessed!

try moving the shelf down by one rung?

Hi tatty I'm not an expert, but I stole a toad in the hole recipe from "The Good Granny Cookbook" and use the mix to make yorkies and they come out really well! I have a 12 well heavy weight non stick yorkshire tray (each yorkie well is 6.5cm across at the top, slightly less at the base - if that makes sense). I smear olive oil inside each well - usually with my fingers tbh, so it's properly coated. Heat it in the oven for about 2 mins before adding the yorkshire batter. Recipe makes too much batter, but I haven't tried reducing the amounts yet for fear of bollocksing it all up!

Recipe for batter is:

125g flour (I use strong white plain that I usually use for pizza bases)
3 med eggs (I often use large ones though and it comes out fine)
1 extra egg white
300ml whole milk

Set oven to 220c to heat up.

Mix flour, eggs, milk and seasoning (salt & pepper) in a blender - using 10 second pulses or so until the mix is smooth.

Let it rest for 20 minutes or so. (Book says 30 but i'm impatient and they come out fine so...) I give it a gentle stir with a fork before pouring into the tray just to make sure it hasn't settled/separated at all - no idea if this actually makes any difference, but there you go!

Once yorkie tray is prepped/hot I fill each yorkie well in the tray to about 2/3 full. I cook for about 25 mins and I get large, well risen yorkies with lovely cripsy tops and soft, but well set, bases. I never open the oven door during this time, just stare in through the window hoping they rise!

They are so good that DP and I have been known to just eat yorkies & gravy for dinner!!

Good luck! :)

Mine were always a disaster too, until I tried Jamie Oliver's recipe. It is very simple and never fails.

1/2 pint of milk
4oz plain flour
3 eggs
pinch of salt.

Put all ingredients together and mix with electric mix.
Cook at 220-240oC degrees for 15-20 mins.

I agree with NOT buying ready made. They are so easy to do once you have the knack.

This is mine (never goes wrong and however many I make they are all scoffed up).

I don't do exact quantities or temeperatures etc though...just do it by feel...

Pudding batter: half of bowl of flour, couple of pinches of salt, break eggs (two or three depending on how big your bowl is) into well in middle of flour, add full cream milk slowly while stirring eggs into flour with a wooden spoon. Keep adding milk until batter is consistency of well whipped cream, I would say. Then put a cloth over top of bowl and leave the batter for at least an hour, if possible. Not in fridge.

VERY hot pudding tray/muffin pan, goose fat in each hole(be quite generous with the fat). Have it to smoking heat. Pour each about half full with batter, cook for 20 mins (could be a bit less in a fan oven, take out when risen and brown all over, DON'T open the door to check though).

Loads of conflicting advice already so I'll add mine.
Sorry I don't do actual measurements, Yorkshire puds were the first thing I was taught to make and I do it all by eye.

2 eggs,
3-4 really heaped tablespoons of flour. (DH always used to do heaped tablespoons, ie as much above as there is below, until he realised I meant Yorkshire portions, ie HUGE spoons)
Mix it all together then gradually add enough milk to make a slightly thicker than single cream batter.
No whisking to get air in at our house. We make them when we're getting the veg peeled etc so they are left to stand, but just on the side, not in the fridge.

I use a 12 hole muffin tin, we put a small blob of use vegetable lard in, I'm veggie. Get your oven as hot as possible, sorry no temperatures, I just turn the oven up as high as it will go. Pre-heat the tins, then about half fill them with batter.

We also add finely chopped onions and sage to ours.

Oh pinch of salt, and about 15 minutes... We have to open the door to see if they're cooked, because they're right on the top and you can't tell, but only crack it open and certainly not for the first 10-15 minutes!