Professor Butter Beard’s “Brunelleschi’s Dome”
According to Renaissance folklore, it was a theory that was proven with an egg. A competition was held in Florence during 1418 to select the builder of the largest cathedral dome in Europe since the Roman Pantheon. While Filippo Brunelleschi was meeting with the warden judges, he noticed that they had become somewhat impatient with his mysterious design representations. Their constant demands to know precisely how the goldsmith and clock maker would solve this engineering challenge forced Brunelleschi to excuse himself to the kitchen and return with an egg. He challenged the wardens to stand the egg on its end. Every time, it fell over and rolled across the table. Brunelleschi mischievously smiled, grasped the egg and slammed it firmly on the table, cracking the bottom and leaving the egg standing solidly upright on the wooden table. The story goes that this egg trick won him the commission.
Brunelleschi went on over the next sixteen years to design and construct one of the most beautiful works of architecture ever envisioned. With the goal of making the dome appear as light as air, he engineered an eight-sided hollow arch-in-the-round, locked in place with wooden circular braces and a keystone. The bricks were laced together in a herringbone pattern, laying one row a week to let the mortar dry, and growing one foot a month towards the sky. He not only designed the dome, but also the ox-driven hoist and trolleys and even the barge to travel up and down the Arno, carrying the specialized bricks and quarried stone to the building site.
Unfortunately, this master left behind no sketches or details on how this all had been achieved. It is written that his inspiration came from his visit to Rome with his friend the sculptor Donatello to study classical sculpture and architecture including the magnificent Pantheon. His ultimate masterpiece inspired me to create these high-rising popovers. Watching them rise in the oven from a flat base into a powerfully solid hollow dome of deliciousness makes me smile mischievously, just like the master.
Chili Popovers
12 Popovers
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup strong flour (bread flour)
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp white sugar
¾ tsp chili powder
½ tsp cinnamon
Zest of one orange
1 ½ cups milk
3 large eggs
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with the rack in the middle position.
2) Spray a muffin tin with very thin coat of cooking spray. The popovers will release even better if you wipe the tin with a paper towel after spraying to even out and spread the thin layer.
3) Heat the milk in a small pan to 120 degrees.
4) Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, chili powder, cinnamon and orange zest.
5) In another small bowl, whisk the 3 eggs and slowly add the warm milk to temper the eggs.
6) Add the milk/eggs to the dry mix and whisk until smooth. The batter will resemble a pancake batter.
7) Portion the batter evenly into the muffin cups. They should be roughly ¾ full.
8) Bake the popover 45 minutes until they are deep brown and crisp. Don’t open the oven door until you are ready to remove them from the oven!
9) Let the popovers cook in the muffin pan 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack. Serve them while still warm with butter and your favorite jam.
