What is a "standard size" for confectionery frames

[lebowits]

I often see formulas for confectionery products which are slabbed and cut.  Typically, the method says "pour into a prepared frame" without specifying the length, width and depth.  This begs the question; Is there a "standard" size for a confectionery frame?  As a specific example, if you review the formulas from Boiron for pate de fruit, each table gives the weights for each ingredient and then in rather small type at the bottom of the page is a method which presumes that you have some idea of what you're doing.  No mention is made of the size in which the resulting product should be poured.

 

Is it just me?  Am I missing something obvious?

[teonzo]

There are various "standard" sizes for pre-made frames: 34x27 cm; 40x40 cm; 60x40 cm...

If the recipe/book doesn't tell the measures, then you can only guess which is the correct size by checking the total weight of the ingredients. Not much of a help, I know.

 

 

 

Teo

[Edward J]

I guess your frame size is dependent on your guitar size.......

 

That isn't much help either, is it?

 

I got my frames from D&R in Montreal, and they are 340x 340 mm (roughly 13" square)  Here's the kicker, they come in a set of 5 mm, 6 mm 7,mm and 8mm high frames.  So now the question is how high do you want your slab to be? 

 

The set comes with two tools, the first is a long folded piece of s/s that acts a scraper or leveler and rides on the frame.  If you've ever worked with cement or watched people pour cement slabs you would understand this technique to be called "Screeding"

 

The second tool is a similar piece of s/s but is cut to closely fit inside the frame, making your frame kinda/sorta "adjustable".  Say you have a batch of ganache and pour into the frame and realize you don't have enough to fill the fame properly.  You pop this bar in the frame and adjust it so your ganache mass will fill the rest of the frame properly, you will  just have a small void area within the frame, but  the ganache slab will be your desired height.  If you want your next batch of ganache to fit the frame properly, you can weigh your smaller slab after it crystalizes and tweak your recipie from there.

 

Am I making any sense?

[lebowits]

Thanks for the replies.  This definitely helps.  I too have a Dedy guitar which is what D&R resells.  Now I just have to figure out the depth of the slab.  My purpose in asking the question is because I want to scale down a pate de fruit formula to give me a thinner slab and a smaller rectangle/square without wasting a bunch of product.

[teonzo]

If you already know what frame (length, width and depth) you can fill with a given recipe, and you need to scale down that recipe for another frame (different length, width and depth), then you just need to calculate the ratio between the 2 volumes. Simple example: you have a recipe for a pate de fruits that fills a 60 cm x 40 cm x 2 cm frame (let's say these measures are for a standard pate de fruits slab), you want to scale it down to fill a 40 cm x 40 cm x 0.7 cm frame (let's say this is for a 2 layers praline). The first recipe gives you a volume of 60x40x2 cm^3 = 4800 cm^3. you want to get a volume of 40x40x0.7 cm^3 = 1120 cm^3. The ratio is 1120/4800 = 0.2333 . So you just need to take the first recipe, then multiply all the weights by 0.2333.

 

If you don't know what volume you get with the first recipe, then you have 2 ways.

First one: you already know a recipe that fills your second (desired) frame. Calculate the amount of sugars (this is valid only for pate de fruits) in this recipe (the one that fills the second frame), remembering to consider also the sugars in the fruit puree. Calculate the amount of sugars in the first recipe, then make the ratio in the same way as above. This method is not 100% correct since different sugars have different densities, plus there are the other solids in the fruit purees, but it gives you a good approximation to start with.

Second one: you don't know what kind of frame you fill with a given recipe, plus you don't have a recipe that fills exactly your wanted frame. In this case you are forced to make a first batch and see what you get.

 

 

 

Teo

[keychris]

I use plastic frames that are 270mm x 180mm. These are 2mm high, so I can just stack as many as I want - four frames high (8mm) holds around 720g of ganache.

 

HTH!

[pastrygirl]

I have a Dedy guitar and the D&R frames. Comparing my usual PdF recipe with the Boiron chart, looks like about 1.25x the Boiron recipe yields a 336 x 336 x 15mm frame (the size I make). The pictures on the chart look thinner than mine, so I would guess that their recipes yield one 336 x 336 x 10 or 12mm frame. 12 would fit my 1.25x theory...

[pastrygirl]

I use plastic frames that are 270mm x 180mm. These are 2mm high, so I can just stack as many as I want - four frames high (8mm) holds around 720g of ganache.

 

HTH!

Did you get them from Savour? Do you have any idea what kind of plastic those are? Thanks.

[keychris]

Did you get them from Savour? Do you have any idea what kind of plastic those are? Thanks.

 

Sure did! here's there link

 

As for what type of plastic... it's white plastic Sorry, no idea. I'd guess HDPE, but not sure. They're suitable for both slabbed ganache and hotter product like PDF. HTH

[pastrygirl]

Sure did! here's there link

 

As for what type of plastic... it's white plastic Sorry, no idea. I'd guess HDPE, but not sure. They're suitable for both slabbed ganache and hotter product like PDF. HTH

Thanks! I have a couple of those, was just trying to figure out the material. Guess I'll have to go visit the custom plastics store in person for my little project