Italian Meringue Troubleshooting?
Decorating By goforbroke510 Updated 8 Jan 2014 , 8:35pm by goforbroke510
Been having some problems with my Italian Meringue.
It doesn't happen when I make a large batch, but it happens with I make a smaller batch (which is still a lot).
I whip my egg whites until soft ball stage (until a ball forms inside the whisk).
I cook my sugar syrup to 116-118 degrees celcius.
I pour the sugar syrup into my egg whites while the egg whites are whipping at speed 10 on a kitchenaid mixer. I usually pour where the egg whites meet the side of the bowl.
I lower the speed to 8 and whip until the bowl is room temperature.
Now, when I make a LARGE batch, it comes out nice and fluffy and glossy. This is with about 300g of sugar. When I half the batch and use 150g of sugar and pour it into my egg whites, I get all these sugar granules stuck to the bottom of my mixer bowl, and when I scrape the meringue out, sometimes there is bits and pieces of sugar granules in the meringue. But it doesn't happen when I make a big batch.
What am I doing wrong? Cooking the sugar too much?
I cook my sugar a little hotter - 250 degrees Fahrenheit. I pour in slowly while Kitchenaid is on a lower speed - maybe 4? I'm not sure of the setting. But I know it isn't on 8 or 10.
I have the opposite problem - I like my Artisan better than my 7 qt for Italian Meringue. It doesn't seem to get stiff enough in the bigger mixer.
Liz
Quote:
I cook my sugar a little hotter - 250 degrees Fahrenheit. I pour in slowly while Kitchenaid is on a lower speed - maybe 4? I'm not sure of the setting. But I know it isn't on 8 or 10.
I have the opposite problem - I like my Artisan better than my 7 qt for Italian Meringue. It doesn't seem to get stiff enough in the bigger mixer.
Liz
I wasn't sure if it was because I reduced the amount of water I added to the sugar when making the sugar syrup. Normally when I make a large batch, it's 300g sugar and 75g water. My original recipe called for 150g sugar and 50g water but I reduced the water to 35-40g.
I also figured the speed needed to be higher to quickly incorporate the sugar syrup into the meringue.. perhaps I'll try lowering the speed.
I make both batches in my 5qt.
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