JeffGC

Some months ago, I was really frustrated with the process of consistently coating the interiors of the molds. Molds too hot or too cold. 50/50 to hot or too cold. I’m pleased with the method I now use. Molds are warmed in a 170° F oven. I place four or five molds on 1/8 sheet pans and only remove each from the oven when ready to coat. When I removed all of the molds at the same time, they would cool. To control the temperature of the 50/50, I use. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C69CBGRQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 It’s a thermostatically controlled hot plate. I set as low as possible but sufficient to melt the mixture. i pour the 50/50 into each mold and then pour back into the warming pot. At every opportunity, I set it back on the burner. The pot is a candle wax pot. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BYHF2CG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 after coating, I remove the wax dimple at the bottom and scrape off any excess, around the mouth, with a bamboo chopstick. When coated properly, you can’t see any 50/50 inside the molds. They release perfectly. Elsie, you and I are sick!

This is how we figure this out…trying different recipes and methods.

They look very good.

Interesting.

I use 1/4 sheet pans, covered with heavy duty aluminum foil. The pan, with molds, is placed on the steel. Open the door, quick 180° and remember to turn temp down. At 15 minutes, pull and knock out a few. If too light, return to oven for a few minutes and inspect again.

Correct…25 minutes total. This is what seems to work with the flat dimple molds. The rounded dimple molds, for some reason, take more time. At the 15 minute mark, I pull from the oven and inspect. My goal is a medium to dark mahogany. If still light, such as with the rounded dimple molds, I bake for an additional 5 minutes and inspect again. I continue as necessary. I’m using a Wolf dual fuel stove and my oven temp is calibrated. In Yeh’s original recipe, he suggested clarified butter for the 50/50 mix. This eliminates the milk solids that burn. He actually recommends ghee, for ease of use. I always have clarified butter in the fridge so I use that. Regular butter for the batter, though. There is so much about Yeh’s recipe that I like. I’m guessing he is an MD so his efforts are through the eyes of a scientist. All of his quantities are metric and to weight, including liquids. The separate corn starch makes sense. The only issue I had was with his times. In my oven, they were drastically over baked. It’s worth the time to reread his info. https://jasonyehmd.wordpress.com

I am very careful to update my recipe with my findings. As of today: Canelé (Jason Yeh) ★★★★★ Baked Goods/Canelé Servings: About 12 cannele for 2″ copper molds Source: jasonyehmd.wordpress.com INGREDIENTS 500g whole milk 50g unsalted butter 1 vanilla bean 40g dark rum 4 egg yolks-80g 120g all purpose flour 205g granulated white sugar 7g corn starch 1g kosher salt DIRECTIONS Prep (48 hours): Heat milk and butter in a saucepan to 185°F. Add vanilla bean. Whisk gently to combine and turn off heat. Cool for 15 minutes. In mid-size SS bowl, combine flour, sugar, corn starch and salt. Whisk well. Place 4 egg yolks into a large glass mixing bowl and whisk to combine well. Temper with 10% of warmed liquid mixture . Continue whisking while adding the rest of the hot liquid mixture. Add rum. Add the dry mixed ingredients and gently whisk together. Strain into plastic container. Mold Prep: Warm molds at 170° on 1/8 sheet pans. Max of 4 or 5 per pan. Remove as needed. Melt 50/50 mixture at setting #2 (160°) Butter must be clarified. 80g total needed to coat 13 molds. Coat molds. Remove dimples and excess with bamboo chopstick. Freeze Bake: Preheat oven to 550° (not convection) with steel on center rack. Heat for one hour after temperature reached. Mix well with spoon or spatula and strain into large measuring cup. Gently stir the canelé batter so the density seems uniform throughout. There is usually a thick goopy layer resting on top that will “melt away” if you stir enough. Try not to incorporate any air into the batter. Strain the batter through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container. Per 12 January 2024 10 minutes at 550° Rotate 180° 15 minutes at 350° - Check and continue as needed.

The previous two posts were from my Canelé diary and I didn't answer your question!. Yes, I am convinced the Jason Yeh recipe is the way to go. When I decided to purchase 5cm molds, I ordered eight from Meilleur du Chef, in Bassussarry, France. I needed five more molds and purchased them on eBay; i.e., not the same molds. The original eight molds have a flat center and the newer five molds have a convex (viewed from the inside) center. The difference in the resulting Canelé is remarkable. Flat have almost zero cul blanc. Convex have 100% cul blanc and the bake time is much longer.

Here are the referenced images.

25 October First group 11min 550°. Then 350°. Top right at 20 minutes and the others at 25 minutes. Second group at 12 min 550° and 20 minutes 350° Clearly, 12 minutes too much. Will work with 11 minutes and test further. 11 January 2024 Melted 80g (40+40) and coated 13 molds. At the last one, I had to rotate slightly. Based on 269g empty, it seems as if it consumed 23g for coating all. Will save the excess in the fridge. 12 January 2024 I was hesitant to go with an initial 11 minutes and used 10 at 550°. The two back rows, less the one in the lower right, were 10 @ 550° and 20 @ 350°. No CB but a bit darker than desired. The front row was on the same day. All in this row were in the newer molds (!!!). The rightmost, in the middle row, was in the older molds. The latter was done at about 15 minutes and the others were close to 25. There seems to be quite a difference between the molds. The older molds have a flat dimple and the newer ones are more rounded. My plan is to stay with 10 minutes at 550° followed by 350°. I’ll start checking at 15 minutes. I will also experiment with removing excess wax around the mouth of the mold. 16 January 2024 This was a total cauchemar. The first batch I wasn’t thinking and baked 15 min @ 550°. The second batch, I forgot to reduce to 350°. One interesting finding, though. The original molds had only one of eight with cul blanc. The News ones all had cul blanc. The molds cannot be mixed. Also, in addition to removing the wax dimple, I scraped the mouths with a chopstick. Very little 50/50 left in the molds. All was not lost today.

Continue working with the same recipe. Plan was to go 10 min/550° and the 20min/350°. On the first batch, I forgot to reduce the heat! This did not go well. Second batch followed the plan.I was pleased and the interiors were excellent. Next test will be 11 min and 12 min at 550° then dropping to 350° for 20. I feel I am making progress.

Tested oven at 500°. Average is about 475° +/- 25°. I’ll do further testing. I am focused on the Jason Yeh/Can You Canelé recipe for a number of reasons. 1) It only uses egg yolks which should reduce soufléeing. 2) It uses granulated sugar and corn starch, instead of relying on an unknown quantity of cornstarch in confectioner’s sugar. Lastly everything it to weight, in grams. Today was the second bake of the remainder of that used yesterday. Today, 10 minutes at 500° and 35 minutes at 350°. Started checking at 25 minutes. Nothing was incinerated and I’m going to work with the recipe a bit more.

Was away for a bit (Paris!) but now back at it. Melting 50/50 at setting 3. Probed and it was 244F, which I think is a bit warm. Next time will reduce to setting 2. Excellent release after baking. Jason Yeh/Can You Canelé https://jasonyehmd.wordpress.com/ First bake was eight and second was five. 45 minutes and 40 minutes, respectively. Although both batches were incinerated and were like lumps of coal, I was rather encouraged. I had virtually no cul blanc. Tempted to just work on this recipe, but will move on.

Those look perfect.

We will figure this out together!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my plan is to go through all of my saved recipes/websites. I've looked at many more but many were terrible. These are the keepers: https://buutocxu.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/caneles-canneles-de-bordeaux-the-recipe-the-madness-the-method/ https://jasonyehmd.wordpress.com/ http://www.ironwhisk.com/2017/08/caneles-canneles-de-bordeaux/ https://www.baking-sense.com/2019/11/08/caneles/ https://partylicious.net/french-canele-recipe/ https://tasteofartisan.com/canele/ https://www.theperfectloaf.com/canele/ http://www.paula-wolfert.com/recipes/canele.html https://kitchenprojects.substack.com/p/kitchen-project-99-canele https://www.tasteatlas.com/canele/recipe

ElsieD-What you are doing is great but it might provide some misleading info. Some websites mention the drastic drop in oven temperature when the canelés are placed inside. Baking one at a time would doubtfully have any effect on the temperature. Placing 12 might.

7 September 2023 Thinking about the mold coating process. The new burner seems to work very well since it’s thermostatically controlled. I did notice the molds cooling during the coating process. I just ordered 1/8 sheet pans which I’ll use for mold warming. I’ll remove from the oven in small groups of three or four molds and coat immediately. I’m certain this will result in a more even 50/50 coating.

I've been away from this project for a while but now I'm back to it. Last weekend I reviewed eleven recipes and plan to produce each of them. I know keep a detailed diary; I'll cut and paste to post as I work through them. 27 August 2023 Reviewed every recipe I’ve saved. Aggressively cleaned every mould with the goal to start at the beginning, with initial seasoning. Made a list of every seasoning method/material: beeswax, butter, vegetable oil, vegetable shortening. Decided to go with beeswax, preforming multiple times. The best description of the process is Kitchen Project. After this is completed, the plan is to prepare, carefully following each recipe. And carefully document! Molds were seasoned with 100% beeswax. 400F oven, repeated three times (total of four seasonings). Notes regarding portable burner: When initial seasoning, I melted on 5 and the reduced to 3. When I did normal coating. I melted at 3. Went slow but will use only 3 in the future. Standard coating is 50/50. Molds pre-heated in 170F oven. The first few seemed thin. I will monitor release at baking. 6 September 2023 Buutocxu recipe https://buutocxu.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/caneles-canneles-de-bordeaux-the-recipe-the-madness-the-method/ Yielded about 1000g of batter. Filled by eye instead of weight. 8 at a time. Followed recipe exactly, including turns. Molds with light 50/50 coating were marked for review. Baked the full 45 minutes, without checking earlier. Rather pleased with the results. No discernable difference with the release from the lightly coated molds (on left). A few had minor cul blanc but all were acceptable. Next coating, I might increase 50/50 to setting 4 and see if it produces lighter coating. Also on next bake, I will remove the wax spot at the bottom of the molds. Second batch (7) made the same way. Thinner 50/50 coating on left, with no noticeable difference. A few didn’t release well from the molds and one was a liquid mess. A few minutes more in the oven and they released easily. This recipe has a much more custard-like interior. Different. Aside from the few CB, I am impressed.

Pete Fred - The linked article is incredible.

Pete Fred - Thank you! I’ll review the linked info. My research continues. Jeff

CookBot-Was planning to do an evenness test and plain white bread was already on the list. Please explain measuring temp in each quadrant. I have an IR temp gun.

I have not. I am,at this moment, researching Wolf convection modes.

Good points

I don’t know. Pan was a room temp but I did have a layer of aluminum foil on it. Gap? Molds were frozen for a couple of hours. Oven was preheated for 90 minutes.