The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Canele working out every time (finally)

kendalm's picture
kendalm

Canele working out every time (finally)

figured a few tricks - these are browning evenly every time now with zero muffin top / bottom.  Will follow up with some more pics of the process for those interested ...

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Would love to see and hear about your process.

Thanks,

Ian

kendalm's picture
kendalm

I wish I took some snaps of some of the recent bakes before this one. This batch of six was some left over batter and so I skimped a tad on filling the molds - I would normally fill higher (70g if you use the small aluminums)

Nickisafoodie's picture
Nickisafoodie

They look fabulous, of course we would appreciate your insights and method! I had these once in my life and they were beyond anything I ever had for dessert.  Please do share your thoughts!  It may inspire me to give it a go.  Where did you get the copper molds?

Thanks!

kendalm's picture
kendalm

aren't they just amazing and your house will smell divine. Per my little write up i use aluminum - the quality i am getting now I am very happy with - I would suggest starting with vanilla extract till you feel comfortable with the process and move to beans which once you nail the interior its a joy to see the little black spots of real vanilla seeds. Good luck !

Theory's picture
Theory

These are lovely. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

kendalm's picture
kendalm

as a side note to the write up, I was a bit rushed on this batch and would normally take more care in pulling the ones in the back about 3-5 minutes early due to my oven being rather hot in the back (you can see 3 are noticeably darker)

kendalm's picture
kendalm

yeah I am kinda excited the last 3 batches I did were far improved from all my former batches. For the record here's my ingredients and equipment

- aluminum molds (copper just too darn expensive). I have 14 molds.

- baking stone and muffin tin to hold the molds

- Francine T55 flour

- President unsalted butter

- white oil (50% gee and 50% beeswax)

- vanilla bean(s)

- whole milk

- sugar

- rum and grand marnier

- cornstarch

so originally I used Bruno albouze's recipe (see YouTube) and always had the muffin-top effect where the pastries would rise up about cm or more causing the top (coz they bake upside-down) to separate away from the mold and as such cause the tops to come out yellow and uncooked. To remedy I would tap them down half way through the bake and that would get most of them to caramelize on top but caused some unwanted compacting of the interior. Ie, they weren't totally fluffy inside with sections of dense custard.

the two adjustments I recently made were 1. To half brunos cornstarch, and 2, to liberally coat the molds in white oil. I do this by pouring the hot oil and completely filling the mold then pouring the oil out which creates a thick layer of gee / beeswax onto the mold interior. These two changes made a works of difference. The Caneles all stay down and bake to a beautiful fluffy consistency inside.

the next change I intend to try is to completely omit cornstarch as I think the francine T55 may as well be a pastry flour - it's a very delicate flour much weaker than am American AP which I am sure Bruno accounted for in his recipe.

here's a couple of pics one showing the oil / wax coating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

can you link to the mold that you have ? Is it the non-stick aluminum ? I see a number of different brands and also steel ones as well as the  pricey copper. Thank you !  c

kendalm's picture
kendalm
DesigningWoman's picture
DesigningWoman

les cannelés! But i think I've already made that clear. These are absolutely perfect, I can practically taste them!

Bravo and enjoy!

Carole 

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

I actually have a recipe for a bundt size giant canale...and I bought the beeswax and was all set to make the white oil that it requires and then I never did. I will have to get on this. I love them. thank you. c

kendalm's picture
kendalm

woah Bundt size hey ? That would be interesting however I'm skeptical that would work out like an actual giant candle. I've tried all sorts of different molds which seems to really drive home the point that the size and shape of the molds is key in getting them just right. If and when I make them in anything other than the proper molds they are very underwhelming and just food at that point - give it a shot tho !

tinroof's picture
tinroof

I've learned that to avoid the "white dome" issue (where the canale rises out of its flute in the early part of baking, thus causing the top not to brown properly) by making sure the canales begin to bubble as soon as possible after putting them in the oven.  If you get them bubbling quickly it prevents air from building up underneath which is what causes the canales to pop up, resulting in the white dome problem. 

To achieve this I heat the oven to 500 F and leave it there for at least 15 minutes before putting in the canales.  After I put the canales in, I raise the heat to 510 F (with convection on) and leave it there for 6 minutes or until the canale cups start bubbling. Once they are bubbling I reduce the heat to 450F for 10 minutes, and then reduce to 375F for the rest of the baking time.  Using this method I've been able to avoid the white dome problem.

kendalm's picture
kendalm

The way I do them now is to place the molds directly to stone as opposed to placing them all in a muffin tray.  that seems to get the heat into to the batter much faster.  Interestingly I tend to get better results from aluminum molds than copper.  Isnt copper supposed to conduct heat faster ?