This has taken a lot practice to get to the point where
- The tops are evenly browned - The canele itself is tall and statuesque (they easily collapse to runty dense loaves) - The crumb is open throughout - The crust is not too light and not too tough - Etc etc
The first two points above seem to be the biggest hurdle with the first being just about every Canele bakers biggest challenge. Either way, if you can perfect these in aluminum molds then it's time to move on to copper and make the investment. Also, as with bread, caneles also require oven kick and there's a few things to be noted about how to prep your oven and the batter etc. Finally not all copper molds are the same. I've tried several and finally found these which I absolutely love - good luck to anybody out there in the pastry world looking to build a better canele - Tin Lined Copper Canele Mold. Medium Size Professional Kitchen - Etsy
I give a lot of bread away to my neighbors and so decided to have a bit of fun and create this packaging...and alter-ego...and fictitious city. All fake, but the bread is the real deal -
The one on the left is a torpedo shape and the right a teardrop. I prefer the teardrop shape but what I am most happy with is the crumb today. Dropped hydration a little and also scored vertically which seems to help getting double grignes. Also did a 2 hour autolyse this time which really reduces the mixing so we'll know soon if that had a positive impact on flavor. Otherwise, I feel like breakdancing !
Don't mean to bore anyone with similar posts all the time but I gotta keep track of progress. These two loaves shaped out rather thin in the center which can pose some challenges getting the loaf to open up. But, fine tuning the technique with my oven is getting finer and finer. Pop them in at about 500F and now about 5oz of room temperature water for quick burst of steam. Evacuate after 6 minutes. At this point I am down to about 430F. Around 10 minutes its dropped more again to about 420. A two minute firing of the top element pumps the Temps another 10-20 and bobs yer uncle until the 19 minute mark. For the record I did not make these two bagels -
For anyone following my new oven adventures its been many months and I am finally getting burst on all scores. I am happy. Each score passes the gringe test where it can be picked up easily by the ear. Boomshanka !
Woah did I get a surprise today, extra dark baguettes. Needed a boost of heat toward the end and so I activated the top elements on my bread oven. Meanwhile went to inspect my canele progress and kinda forgot about the bread. Got a bit darker than I usually shoot for. Kinda happy though- cheers alfanso - did I make proud going to the dark side ?
This is for the stray canele junkies who appear here on occasion. We know that getting the tops to cook is a serious challenge. There is a lot of debate about how to mix batter, how to pour etc. I find the tops cook well only in a very thin heat range and require good timing on you temp drop. For my setup its 440F on convection with the mounds directly on stone. Then after 20 minutes a drop to 385 for another 35 minutes and Bob's yer uncle ;)
