Hmm it would appear that stoneground brown flour does not make good Yorkshire puds

[shoppingbagsundereyes]

Is it only white that works or would I have success with fine ground whole meal?

Try mixing half and half and adding a teaspoon of baking powder.

If I understand the chemistry, you beat the milk, egg and flour together to create the batter then let the batter rest for half an hour in the fridge to get the starch cells to swell. This, when heated, is what creates the lovely puffed-up yorkshires?

Brown flour doesn't do that, does it? When I've baked a brown loaf it's always been wholesome to the point of inedibility and I never get the 'puffed-up ness' that I get with white breads or doughs.

So my speculative guess would be that it's the fact that it's brown, not white flour that's the problem. But it is just a guess.

For recipes that don't like chewy while grain flour, I use chapatti flour which is still wholemeal but a much finer grind. Letting the batter sit longer might help too.