If you want to make a Giant Yorkshire Pudding, you need a large baking tin.  The Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings are about 7″ wide, for reference – so an easy tin to use would be a small sponge tin, the sort you’d bake a cake in.  You can pick these up as cheap as £1 at shops such as Poundland, just a 7-8″ sponge tin.  However, if you don’t have one right now, then use what you’ve got!.  The ingredients themselves will cost you under 20p!

If I was just given a Yorkshire pudding and told that was all I was getting for Sunday dinner I’d be happy (so long as I had gravy).  I eat Yorkshire Pudding with all meats, including turkey with Yorkshire Pudding on Christmas Day!  There’d have been a mutiny in my house, growing up, if there wasn’t a Yorkshire pudding with every roast meal!  I plan a meal STARTING with the Yorkshire Pudding; I’m not bothered what else there is 🙂

Yorkshire pudding batter mix is no different whether you’re making small Yorkshire puddings, toad in the hole or a Giant Yorkshire pudding – all that is different is the size of the tin you’re using.  I make Yorkshire pudding “by eye”, so no measuring ingredients.  I start with an overloaded tablespoon of plain flour, add the egg, then add the milk until “that looks about right”.

For the tin, personally I prefer a metal dish to bake in, I just feel that a metal tin gets hot throughout quicker, aiding the rising and cooking process.  You can use other dishes.  Don’t get too hung up on this, but in my opinion, “using the right dish”, for material/size/shape is key to getting the best result.  But, I will always just use the dish that’s handiest and most convenient at the time.

To make one Giant Yorkshire pudding, for one person, here’s the recipe I use:

Giant Yorkshire Pudding Ingredients:

• 50 grams plain flour
• 1 large egg
• A pinch of salt
• Enough milk to make a batter (less than ¼ pint).
• A generous tablespoon of oil, to line the baking tin.

Method: 

1. Spoon out the flour into a large mug, jug or a mixing bowl.  For this quantity, which is about 1½ really heaped spoons of plain flour, I’ll often just use a large/wide mug I’ve got – you don’t need a bowl if you’ve not got one – and for the quantity a full-sized mixing bowl seems overkill.
2. Add the pinch of salt and break the egg into the middle of the flour.  Using a fork, start with the egg and stir it round and round, slowly bringing the flour into the eggy mix.  Continue to do this until all the flour has combined with the egg and there aren’t any lumps of flour.
3. Add a large splash of the milk and blend that into the flour mix.  Add further splashes of milk until you have a medium-thick batter.  It shouldn’t be too runny, but it shouldn’t be heavy and thick.
4. Beat the Yorkshire pudding mix to beat as much air into the mix as you can – I’ll usually do this standing over the sink as there can be splashes of batter to clear up.
5. Place the batter mix in the fridge if you can, for at least 15-20 minutes, to let the gluten rest.
6. When it’s time to bake the giant Yorkshire pudding, place your sponge tin in the oven, with a generous tablespoon of oil, swished around to coat the tin.  Heat the tin and oil up with the oven at 180-200°C or so (if in doubt, start high and turn it down).
7. Remove the batter from the fridge, add a splash of cold water (1-2 tablespoons or more) and give it another quick beating (5-15 seconds is usually all I manage before I’m bored of that).
8. When the oil’s hot, quickly pour the batter straight into the oiled tin in the oven – I usually don’t bother to remove the tin from the oven, I simply open the door and pour it in.
   
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Keep an eye on it to see how it’s doing in case you need to “adjust” the oven temperature or generally have a fiddle.
   Mini Oven Yorkshire Pudding: I cook Giant Yorkshire puddings in my mini oven, with the top and bottom elements both on – so I have to watch that the top isn’t burning!  If you’re using a regular oven there’s usually no need to watch your Yorkshire at all.
10. At first, the sides will rise – you’ll see this happen in the first 5 minutes.  As the sides continue to rise the centre will start to bake.  After that the centre will rise a little.
11. Remove the Yorkshire pudding from the oven when it’s the colour you want it and like it!
12. Fill it with your Giant Yorkshire pudding filling and eat!

There Are No Secrets!

If you’ve been put off from making a Giant Yorkshire pudding because recipes seem difficult, or people speak about “the secret”, then forget that.  In short – if you make a batter, heat up the oven, place it in the oven and wait …. something will happen – and you will have some edible food.

Chefs and cooks will tell you “The Secret to Perfect …” Yorkshire puddings and batter simply because they’re paid to look knowledgeable.  They tell you to get the oil smoking, which petrifies many people; use XYZ oil; use XYZ eggs.  All instructions that will alienate many people.

So, my advice to you is this: just make a batter, oil a tin, stick the tin in the oven, rest the batter if you can, when the oil’s melted/hot pour the batter into the tin …. and see what happens!  The main “rule” is to not open the oven door once it’s in as this halts the rising process and can give you a flatter/lower giant Yorkshire pudding; sometimes I actually do this on purpose as my Yorkshire puddings often rise too much for my liking. I’m also a “bit of a fiddler” 🙂

There is no need to fear it.

What Can Go Wrong?

Generally, not a lot could go wrong.  You’ll have something edible, which is the point of cooking.  The point of cooking is to get something onto the plate that you fancy, that’s edible 🙂 But here are a few things that can “go wrong”:

• The Yorkshire pudding didn’t rise: Next time either beat it more/longer, or turn your oven up just a little, or get the oil just a little hotter (by waiting another 2 minutes before you add the batter).
• The Yorkshire pudding burnt on the top: It was too close to the top/element in the oven (especially true for toaster ovens, where you have to keep an eye on that).  Next time try the shelf a bit lower, or turn the temperature down a little.
• The Yorkshire pudding didn’t do anything: Did you turn the oven on?  If you put batter into a hot oven in a dish of oil it will rise!
• The Yorkshire pudding rose in the middle: The sides should rise first, then the middle bakes – usually just giving it a poke will stop this. The middle of all Yorkshire puddings will rise to some extent, if you’re seeing it rise while watching it, that’s OK.  If it’s risen once baked, poke it down.
• The sides never rose: The batter could have been too thick, make it a little runnier next time.  Or, the oven needs to go up a little, or the fat needs to get a bit hotter.

So, you see, there is no secret to making Yorkshire puddings…. start by making one and then “adjust” it to suit yourself.  No Yorkshire pudding is a failure – it’s comfort food, so always starts with a few points under its belt!