Traditional Madeleines
By Claudia on May 20, 2008 | In Kuchen & Kekse, In English, Frühstück & Brunch | 16 feedbacks »
I was quite pleased when this weeks' recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was announced: Tara of Smells like Home chose Traditional Madeleines! An easy recipe I thought. And it was quite easy, but something seemed wrong with the recipe: Even though the recipe asks for baking powder Dorie proposed to refrigerate the dough for at least three hours (and up to two days!). Baking powder reacts with liquid. When dissolved the acid and bicarbonate react and emit carbon dioxide gas which produces bubbles and leavens the dough. So normally you have to bake your cake immediately after adding the baking powder. Refrigerating the dough was meant to build the little bump in the middle of the Madeleines later in the baking process. I doubted it even more when looking at the photo in the book. There were no little humps or bumps.
Anyway, I baked the Madeleines and they were very, very tender. The slightest pinch with my finger would have harmed the Madeleines, so it was quite difficult to get them out of the pan. Even out of the silicone pan.
Today I had a look at Dorie Greenspans book "Paris Sweets". There she describes a recipe for "Classic Madeleines". It seems to be almost the same recipe:
In Baking From My Home to Yours Dorie uses 2/3 cups of flour, in Paris Sweets 3/4 cups. In BFMHTY it's 3/4 TS baking powder, in PS she uses 1/2 ts baking powder. BFMHTY In the latter there is no vanilla extract and no salt and 1 tb less butter. The other ingredients are the same. I think the recipe in "Baking from my home to yours" should have more flour and and less baking powder.
The question to all of you: Is it possible that the little hump is due to refrigerating the dough? I have baked Madeleines with these little bumps and I haven't refrigerated the dough. As far as I know it's the shape of the Madeleine pan that produces this wonderful shape.
Besides the technical problem: The Madeleines were very soft and spongy with crispy little edges. To appreciate these Madeleines you should bake them not in advance. There best still warm.
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16 comments
Loved your research. I did not get a hump either--but I noticed many did...who knows?!! Very pretty, anyway!
your madeleines look very pretty! some did and some didn't get the hump, even though almost everyone chilled the batter. so the elusive "what makes the hump" still goes unanswered i think!
They look wonderful and very delicate! I love Dorie's recipe...
Cheers,
Rosa
Good detective work comparing the 2 books. I wonder what the answer is?
Clara @ I♥food4thought
I had issues with refrigerating a leavened batter too. Wonder if it helps or hurts?
Those look lovely! And I really appreciate your analysis of why they didn't have humps - I think you're right - they didn't need the refrigeration. I don't have a madeleine pan, so I didn't make them, but I think you've raised some good points and I'll keep them in mind when I eventually do make these.
Ich denke, dass Dorie einige Rezepte an den Geschmack des anderen Kontinentes anpasst. Mir ist schon oft aufgefallen, dass bestimmte Gerichte in Europa anders interpretiert werden als in den USA.
After reading quite a few posts from the TWD-blogroll I think that refrigeration is not the key to the hump. Is it due to convenience that Dorie puts the dough into the fridge?
Da Madeleines aus Frankreich kommen, sollte man erst gar nicht amerikanische Rezepte ausprobieren, sondern sich an das klassische seit Jahrhunderten bew?hrtem Rezept halten, ohne Backpulver, das hatten die vor 200 Jahren gar nicht....
@Katia: Hast Recht, andererseits war Dorie Greenspan ja lange in Paris und hatte so ziemlich zu allen gro?en Patissiers der Stadt Kontakt. Und wenn ich mir angucke, was Dan Leader oder Peter Reinhardt in punkto frz. Brot bieten, nehme ich deren Rezepte gern an.
Aber an der Sache mit dem Backpulver ist definitiv was dran ...
Wow, die sehen ja hinreissend aus. H?tte ich irgendjemand, der all das Gebackene verzehrt, das ich produziere, w?rde ich mich sofort anstecken lassen und los backen. :)
Aber ich merke mir die Rezepte und Anmerkungen auf jeden Fall und hol' das nach.
From what I know about these guys, the refrigeration time is useful because it gives the dough time for the flour to become fully hydrated, making the cake as tender as possible. The hump, again only as far as I know, comes from the leavening, either air or baking powder. You bring up a good point about the baking powder losing its umph over time...hmm, dunno. Your madeleines really do look fantastic though. :)
They look perfect and so delicate. Great job!
I was just looking at her madeleine recipe in Paris Sweets the other day. She does make it sound like the silicon pans are much easier to remove the cookies from... but from what you said, maybe not. Sounds like lots of folks had problems with that.
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