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Hollow

Rob_Connoley_68489

I really have tried making macarons well over 100 times and have had success less than 6. That's why I signed up for the class. I've gone over the class 3 times now video and text and am having the same troubles as always - hollow shells. Here are some of the issues and choices I'm making.

1. I bake at 6,000'

2. I use an electric home oven, rack in the middle, spoon in the door, well pre-heated

3. I use heavy aluminum baking sheets with silpat - I tried the parchment and have better consistency with the silpat

4. On my first attempt I did oven at 310º and baked 11 minutes..not done...added 5 more and they felt done

5. I didn't do it for this course but I've seen others put a baking sheet upside down midway through so the tops didn't bake anymore but baked the centers better...didn't really work for me

6. I'm using Albert Uster almond meal ground and twice sieved in the TPT

7. First attempt I used Valhrona cocoa, today I'm using Pralus

The inside is always a tad bit gooey with a small, not large gap between the meat of the cookie and the shell. It seems to me that it rises, hardens, and separates as the inside falls back down. Maybe lowering my rack to the bottom 1/3? Lower heat? Higher heat? Maybe using a thinner tray? I'm really lost on this. I've got two trays drying right now for baking this afternoon. So any advice will go on the next attempt. Thanks in advance.

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Comments

Brendan_Lee_56950

Have you tried cooking at a slightly lower heat for a longer period of time? How you describe it sounds like it fluffs up but then since it wasn't set it deflated from the shell when you remove it from the oven, maybe a longer cooking period at a lower temp will give it more time to set.

Rob_Connoley_68489

I can only say that I'm pretty sure that in all of my attempts I tried that because that seems logical to me, but I can only assume that it didn't work or I would have stuck with it. I may try one tray at 310º and one at 285º today. Thanks for the suggestion.

Rob_Connoley_68489

Here's 310º, 11 minutes, then covered for another 5. Beautiful shell...nothing on the inside.

Rob_Connoley_68489

Just pulled my 285º, 15, cover, 3 batch, and it looks identical to the previous.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Is the fallen part gooey still?

Rob_Connoley_68489

just barely...sometimes its been much more gooey, but I would say these baked the appropriate amount of time.

Rob_Connoley_68489

Finally had time to give it another go. Going off of Chris' advice...you'll see in the pic that the the cookie on the left was baked at 275º and on the right at 260º, traditional electric oven, door vented. I rested just until I could touch the shells - like 20 or 30 minutes. Both are still hollow (the lower temp is actually more hollow. I can't imagine baking at any lower of a temp, and surely the rest time was short enough. That would suggest that its my mixing. I've watched and rewatched the video, as well as other videos online, and I think I'm mixing it correctly, but I wouldn't bet on it now. While I'll throw my wildcard back out there - baking at 6,000', I sure would appreciate some thoughts on this. I am not a novice by any means and I don't know why macaron stump me so much.

Chris_Young_80640

Rob, thanks for persevering. Would you be willing to try a batch with no resting at a low temp and a very high temp? The altitude part is a good clue.

Rob_Connoley_68489

of course...after 6+ years of trying I won't be stopping til I figure it out.

Rob_Connoley_68489

Same batch of batter. No rest at all - straight from piping to oven. First pic is 250º for 27 min; Second pic is 350º for 14 min. Both covered about half way through, door ajar. Even though neither worked it was interesting to see the air pocket development differences in the 100º variation. The lower temp is much more pleasurable to eat and even without rest the shell came out flawlessly. This experiment seems to narrow it down to 1) over mixing or 2) mysterious altitude effect.

Rob_Connoley_68489

Another variable that I'd like to throw out - many recipes are very specific that I should use 10x powdered sugar and superfine sugar. I've always used off the shelf for both. Since airy baked goods are more sensitive at altitude, both of these would weigh down the mass of batter, so might they have an impact? I'm checking with my distributor to see if I can get 10x. I'm pretty sure superfine is at the grocery.

Rob_Connoley_68489

I thought I'd post an update since its possible I'm a lost cause. I saw a recipe over at eGullet which made absolutely no sense. Instead of TPT it had 2:1 10x to Almond. So I went ahead and made it. Tried the high and low temp tests as above where again the higher temp created more air bubbles. The lower temp had less bubbles- in fact, when I poked my finger into one in the oven it was solid. I thought I had success. In the end I baked at 260º for a total of 46 minutes and they were still gooey inside. Once out of the oven they all developed the hollowness - they were solid in the oven when I poked a finger in. I also purposefully under-mixed them and it showed in the shell - although it had feet, it was very rough surfaced.

So, while a lot of variables changed here, this brings me back to the altitude. I mean, I guess its possible that I need to bake these an hour but that seems insane. My cake and cookie adjustments are normally about 20% more time. I guess I need to find someone at altitude who can give me some advice. I may try this goofy recipe again but go for an hour of covered baking and see what happens.

Chris_Young_80640

@Rob — Thank you for the update. I admit to being puzzled. Anyone else baking at near 6000feet who can confirm some of Rob's problems?

Rob_Connoley_68489

Here's another attempt. I just searched for a high altitude recipe online and found one that upped the egg white powder to 5 g instead of 1 g; lowered the sugar in the syrup from 165 to 135 g; and whipped only to soft medium instead of stiff. I did those things and baked at 325º for 18 minutes. Best results yet. Ugly top but it rose and didn't hollow out. My next batch I repeat this but fold it a little more aggressively since that should smooth out the top. Rested only 10 minutes.