Pavlova quest part VI

Another Christmas, another pavlova... I really feel that I'm getting pretty close to nailing the perfect method for my mixer/oven now.  Armed with yet more info from Anneka Manning's how to make the perfect meringue, I hypothesised that I'm getting weeping mainly from OVER beating, plus a bit more cornflour should help to stabilise things even more. There was also an interesting note that the vinegar helps to acidify the mix, producing a more stable foam so it should be added at the beginning, especially for not so fresh eggs... I added it when I moved the mix to the stand mixer, when all the sugar was in, so I'm not sure whether it helped adding it earlier or not.

So here we go again:

• 190g egg whites, 310 g caster sugar
• whisk over double boiler until temperature of mix exceeds 60C (a little lower than my previous 70C, but apparently 60 is enough for pasteurisation)
• transfer to mixer and beat, slowly increasing speed to medium (speed 6) over the first five to six minutes. 
• I ended up beating for a total of 10 minutes, which was the same as previously BUT I didn't exceed speed 6. 
• I may have been imaginging it, but when finished the mixture had a finer texture than previously, which would align with the overbeating hypothesis. Mix was actually very stiff, with peaks not flopping over, which was a little stiffer than I would normally use.
• Note that even at the 10 minute mark, the bowl was still slightly warm to the touch, which goes against the standard advice to keep beating until the bowl is cool (room temp).
• Add cornflour, 1 tablespoon = 4 teaspoons (Australian measure!) or approximately 1 tspn per egg white (assume 1 large egg white ~40g). This is double what I would normally add for a pav this size.
• Add 1 tspn white wine vinegar (1 tspn per 4 egg whites) and a few drops of vanilla
• Preheated oven to 120C and turn down to 100C immediately on putting pav into oven
• Bake for 75 mins total (1:15)

I used the probe thermometer again, and it hit 80C after about 55 mins, and stayed there until the 1:15 mark. So I think I really do need the slightly higher oven temp of 100C (rather than 90C) to get the marshmallow part of the pav to cook fully.

And the result?

Pretty happy with this result. A bit of cracking as you can see but not too much marshmallow shrinkage. I probably could have cooked it 10-15 minutes less, but I was a bit concerned at the 55 minute mark that the outer shell didn't feel really dry. It was even a little soft and springy when I pushed on it. I probably could have turned down the oven for the last half hour just to dry out the shell without shrinking the marshmallow. 

The smallest bit of weeping in the middle of the ring. This pav may have cooked a little quicker becasue of its ring shape, rather than the usual circle, but I think the use of the probe thermometer takes the guesswork out as I now know that once the temp hits 80C, I just need another 20-30 minutes (max) to complete the drying out. Overall pretty good!!!

Pavlova quest part V

A long time between pavlova posts, but as I've changed techniques quite a lot in the last year or so, I thought I should make some notes!

The biggest change is to use the same initial technique as used in swiss buttercream to get the sugar dissolved in the egg white, that is, to use a double boiler to gently heat the egg whites and beat in the sugar by hand until the temperature reaches around 70 degrees Celsius. this is a sure fire way of making sure all the sugar is dissolved, meaning that the mix can be whisked at full speed. I havent done a comparison to really compare if this affects the final volume of the result, but it does give a beautifully stiff mix quite easily. Of course heating the mix has the advantage of basically pasteurising the eggs too! 

The rest of the recipe is unchanged, with the sugar to egg white ratio still being 1:1.65

I've had pretty good success with this technique, getting well risen pavlovas with none of the possible under cooking problems I had before (oozing syrup) but still some cracking.

Some sites prefer to use a long slow bake rather than an initial high heat, so that's what this trial is about. Previously I've always had the interior marshmallow part shrink, so there's a gap at the top of the pavlova, indicating that it was cooked for too long (water evaporates, shrinking the marshmallow). Temperatures higher than 100C are likely to make the pav crack, but the exterior doesn't brown. I'd really like to get a snowy white pav, so I'm going to try a long slow cook at 90C for around 2 hours.

I'm also going to use my probe thermometer - we're aiming for 80C in the middle. As per this site, I can always give it a quick hot blast again after the initial baking if I really want to brown the exterior.

So here's the latest trial notes:

• I used ~240g of egg whites to 390g of caster sugar
• After whisking egg whites and all of the sugar over a double boiler, beat on a stand mixer (max speed 8 after slowly increasing speed from 2 over the first 5 mins, for a total of 10 minutes (exactly)
• Add vinegar (1 tsp) and cornflour (1tsp/4 eggwhites) as normal
• Despite being a big pav (~6-7 extra large egg whites), it was about the same height as I would normally use, but a bit broader at ~23cm diameter
• Preheat oven to 90C. I've recently added an oven thermometer which confirms my oven temp is pretty much what it says on the dial, albeit with some hot spots
• Place probe thermometer in the pav. A bit tricky as the pav isnt really solid enough when raw to hold it above the sheet pan, but I sort of jerry rigged it
• Bake on 2nd lowest shelf (the pav is then in the middle of the oven) for approx 120 mins

And how did it turn out?

The pav as baked, with holes from probe thermometer

And voila!

Some notes:

• nice shape and pale colour, with a little cracking, but not too badly (better than previously)
• the marshmallow has shrunk away from the crisp crust quite a bit, indicating the pav was cooked for too long
• there is clear/yellowish syrup leaking from the base, which also suggests the pav may have been cooked too long (when the marshmallow shrinks, it squeezes out water)
• the temp never really got above 75-77C, and the egg whites should be above 80C to be fully cooked and stable. It reached this temp at about 60-70mins, and then never really got any higher. I suspect this might be because the foam is such a good insulator, its hard to make it rise without a higher oven temp

Next steps...

• try a marginally higher temp of 100C, but a shorter cook time to try to get the middle to come up to over 80C without resulting in later weeping

Pavlova quest part IV

Here we are again with another pavlova make.  This time for the Potter annual reuinion in Melbourne when patriarch Laurie joins us from the north.

As I think I'm finally narrowing down the parameters, part IV is not much changed from part III, but as part III still saw significant drying out of the interior, the aim this time was to try to refine my baking time.

So:

• 127g egg whites
• 210g caster sugar
• pinch salt

Beat till soft peaks form (speed 4) and then gradually add sugar (speed 6). Add vanilla, cornflour with last of sugar (4-5 mins total) and then beat another 5 mins on speed 10. Add white wine vinegar and beat in. The mix did not seem as stiff as previous efforts.

Place in preheated oven (130C) on low shelf (No. 4) and immediately turn down to 100C and bottom element only. Bake 70 mins. Just showing first signs of cracking when I turned the oven off but left the pav inside, door closed.

First impressions are that I haven't gotten the say amount of rise - so need more heat at the start of the bake. So next time either preheat a little hotter or wait 10 mins before turning down the oven. It's a bit hard to say given this mix didn't seem as stiff as usual.

E is for egg tracking: Eggspense review

Usually I just get a pen and put a few marks on my wall calendar to track how many eggs the girls lay each day, but I've long had it in the back of my mind to look into writing an app to do it.  Of course it's been done already!

I was after something that would record how many eggs we got each day so I could look at totals and patterns over the year, and maybe put in extra things that it would be nice to track, such as when I worm them (and be able to set reminders).

I'm notoriously cheap when it comes to buying software but I thought it would be nice to have something on my phone, so after a little bit of searching backyard chicken and egg forums, I decided to give eggspense a try, as it works on Android.  I think it only cost me a couple of dollars.  It doesn't allow me to put in reminders, but it does record the expenses of keeping chickens so you can work out how much it costs per egg!  This is a constant refrain of Mr Potter, who insists that the chickens aren't earning their keep.  Well of course not, they're pets as well as egg producers - the whippets certainly aren't a cost neutral exercise either!  But seriously, I've been a bit concerned about the egg quota lately - it seems to me that with 5 young chickens we should be getting more than 2 eggs per day on average in the laying season.  It's been a bit hot lately, and they do tend to lay a bit less when things are scorching, but overall its's been a mild summer and not unbearable like the summer before Rose was born.

So here's the first two weeks of egg tallying.   I haven't bought any feed lately, so there's nothing under expenses as yet.

The plot that I've shown here I've actually recoloured in Irfanview (best freebie imaging editor around for quick and dirty fixes and ease of use!). So here's my first bit of feedback for the developers: what's with the dark blue dots on black background for your charts?  And the tiny tiny font on the chart?

And I couldn't manage to share this chart directly with blogger, but it was easy enough to download and save, which I need to do so I could edit the colours!

On the plus side, the app's pretty easy to use, and I generally remember to put the egg numbers in straightaway as I'm rarely without my phone, which couldn't be said for the old method of writing it down on the calendar in my study.  It would be great to also be able to set reminders of things such as worming though, or just log other things of note, such as when they moult or when a broody hen might affect the egg numbers.

After six months or so, when I've averaged out the expenses over a decent length of time, I'll post an update on how much it really is costing me to produce eggs!

Egg skelter

Here's my latest egg toy: the egg skelter.  No more stacking cartons in the fridge as the oldest eggs are always at the bottom, to be used next, while new ones go straight in at the top!  Brilliant! (Had to buy this straight from the manufacturer in Devon, England but still worth it in my opinion).

Chocolate and caramel eggs

Not Easter yet, just the first egg from the new chooks.  Guess which one is from the young 'un?