How To Make the Perfect Madeleines
Madeleine Recipe - makes 12
Pre-heat the oven to 190°c.
Begin by melting the butter on a low heat, and remove as soon as it’s melted.
Weigh the baking powder. Ideally use a scale with micrograms as this is possibly the most important part of your madeleines rising perfectly every time.
Weigh the flour into the same bowl, and dry whisk this together.
Sift the contents of the bowl onto baking paper, then lift up the baking paper and tip the flour/baking powder back into the bowl. Don’t throw away the baking paper.
Measure together the milk, sugar, honey and lemon zest, whisk this together to dissolve the sugar. You now should have, a saucepan with melted butter, a bowl with flour and baking powder, and a bowl with the milk/sugar/honey mix.
Now add half of the flour to the liquid and mix. Add the second half of the flour and mix. When you no longer see any strands of flour it is ready. Make sure to check the sides and corners of the bowl for stuck flour.
Pour the melted butter into this mixture and whisk for 10-15 seconds. Now remove your whisk, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. You don’t have to rest the batter, if pressed for time, just put the batter straight into a piping bag with no tip. The reason for resting is it is easier to control when piping into the moulds, as you want exact measurements. If not resting skip to step 10.
Prepare your moulds - use the softened butter (see here for how to make softened butter), paint the moulds using a pastry brush. The key to this is making sure you have a totally even spread of butter, the common mistake is using too much butter as this is when it clumps and becomes uneven. Cover the mould with flour, and tap the excess off onto the same baking paper you used earlier.
Prepare a piping bag with a 1cm (s10) tip, retrieve the mixture from the fridge and use a pastry scraper to fill the bag.
Place the mould on the scales, zero it and then pipe 28-29g into each mould. Have a teaspoon ready on the side to adjust.
Bake for 3 minutes at 190°c, then turn oven down to 160°c for 7 minutes.
Take them out of the oven and remove from the moulds immediately. (otherwise they are more likely to stick when the butter starts to cool)
