Personal Baking Challenge Number 1: Madeleines

Dear foodies and other lovely people,

As you might know from my previous post, I have set myself a number of baking challenges for 2013. They are things I have never baked before and have always wanted to try out. The list is still growing since I wrote about it last time (bit worrying that..!) but I have now started with the first challenge: Madeleines! 

I won't bore you with the history of Madeleines but give you the Wiki link instead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_(cake)

Last summer I bought a Madeleine tin in France, which was starting to burn a whole in my 'baking cupboard'... So 'Madeleines' had to be the first challenge! I quickly bought another one here in Lier last week so that I was able to make two batches of 12 at the same time.

Doing a bit of 'research' and reading several different recipes for Madeleines I noticed that there are some very different approaches - both with regards to the ingredients and the process. 

Ingredients
Some use self-raising flour, others plain flour and baking powder. Some use whole eggs, others whole eggs plus an extra yolk. Some add lemon juice (and quite a bit too!), others vanilla extract. Then there's the 'Commercy Madeleines' which contain orange blossom water. My father sent me a recipe from 'THE Blue Family Folder' by the Roux brothers, Albert & Michel, which contains soft brown sugar rather than caster sugar. Some even use icing sugar.
What ALL of them use though......is melted butter! The butter is melted at a low heat and slightly cooled down before use - added as the last ingredient.

Process
The process is possibly even more important than the (different) ingredients. There are two differences here (I wanted to test how significant these difference are):
1. To let the batter rest in the fridge (preferably overnight) vs. using the batter straight after putting it together;
2. To bake at a high oven for a short time vs. a lower oven for longer.

Having taken all of this in, I was keen to try two very different recipes and processes. Now, of course this could lead to comparing apples and pears I can hear you think.... But in the end, we want a good looking and great tasting Madeleine - 'no matter' how we get there!
So, I decided on Annie Bell's recipe from her fantastic book 'Annie's Baking Bible' (worth buying for other reasons too!):

The other recipe I chose is from 'Larousse Gastronomique' (the 'Classic' rather than the 'Commercy' one):

Annie Bell adds vanilla extract, suggests to put the batter in the fridge (a few hours - but preferably overnight) and bakes at a high temperature to start, to then lower the temperature whilst baking (from 220'C to 200'C to 170'C - all in 10 minutes).
Larousse adds an extra yolk and the juice of half a lemon (of which the latter makes the batter considerably thinner!), uses the batter straight away (no rest in fridge) and bakes at a lower temperature (180'C) for longer (20-25 minutes).

I made Annie Bell's batter the day before and put it in the fridge overnight. Next morning I baked Annie Bell's Madeleines and in the afternoon made the Larousse batter and baked them straight away. 

The most important part of the challenge - apart from making Madeleines that taste great - was to create what is called the 'bosse'. The little dome on the top of the Madeleine. 

Leaving the batter in the fridge helps to create 'la bosse' is what they say. Let the result speak for itself in the photo below (Annie Bell left, Larousse right):

To double-test and prove that indeed leaving the batter in the fridge overnight helps to create 'la bosse', I then made the Larousse Madeleines again - but after leaving the batter in the fridge this time. The result was this:

Compare this to the one above on the right and I think it's pretty clear that leaving the batter in the fridge overnight creates absolute first class looking Madeleines! I still used the same ingredients as in the first Larousse trial and also stuck to their temperature (180'C) and baking time (20-25 mins) although after 15 mins they were definitely done.

So oven temperature and baking time difference don't matter that much, interestingly enough. It is the temperature of the batter that matters most! Cold batter going into hot oven = Madeleines avec la 'bosse'!

This was enough of an experiment for me to take note of the main success factors here. Although I will still be making the 'Commercy' recipe from Larousse and the Roux brothers recipe my father sent me. That's mainly because I want to do some more 'research' on flavour/taste.

So what did they taste like?

Interestingly, initially my husband and I preferred Annie Bell's Madeleines when it came down to flavour and the kids preferred the Larousse ones. But after having baked the Larousse ones the second time (after batter in fridge) the flavour of these had grown on us... The funny thing about the flavour of the Larousse Madeleines though was, that the juice of half a lemon went into the batter but you couldn't really taste that in the finished product. My taste buds are pretty well 'developed' I think and it was odd to not detect the lemon flavour after baking.

So.............here endeth the Madeleines experiment for now! If you decide to make them (and why wouldn't you :-)!?), then I suggest you definitely leave the batter in the fridge - preferably overnight. The timing of which is perfect if you want to make them for 'elevenses' the next day!

I will test the other two recipes in the next few weeks and then publish my own recipe - adapted from the ones that I have tried - on the blog. Something to look forward to :-).

My next challenge is most likely going to be Hot Cross Buns - simply because Easter is now getting so close and I am getting a bit annoyed with myself buying the Waitrose ones every week (husband brings them over!) whilst I could be making them myself! Baking guilt... ;-)

Watch that 'Hot Cross Bunny' space :-))!

Love,

X Bee