How much to bake meringues? Oven in the oven at home

Another name for this popular French dessert sounds like meringue. Outwardly, it is often compared with a cloud - the cake is light and snow-white. It pleasantly crunches on the teeth leaving an unforgettable aftertaste. The dessert is based on only two ingredients: sugar and beaten egg whites. To make the cake crumbly, you need to bake a meringue for a very long time. How much it needs to be kept in the oven and at what temperature, we will tell in our article.

The nuances of making the famous dessert

Translated from the French language, the word "meringue" is translated as "kiss". And it is no coincidence that this dessert was given such a comparison. Delicate, melting in the mouth, soft inside and crispy outside the meringue has a refined taste. Due to the fact that dessert requires only two main ingredients, it seems that preparing it is simple. In fact, this is far from the case. If you do not know how much to bake meringues and other nuances, the meringue will not work. The subtleties of making the perfect French dessert are as follows:

1. To obtain a lush mass, the proteins are cooled together with a bowl and whisk before whipping. Even sugar is recommended to be temporarily placed in the refrigerator. The lower the temperature of the ingredients, the better the dessert.
2. The dishes and whisk from the mixer should be perfectly clean, without a drop of fat. During whipping, the mass increases in volume by 4–5 times, so the capacity should be quite deep.
3. It is not recommended to whip the whites in a metal bowl. Otherwise, the protein mass will darken.
4. Determining whether proteins are well beaten is quite simple. You need to lift the whisk and see if the mass falls. You can also turn the tank upside down. If the mass does not flow down the walls and holds tightly in the bowl, then the proteins are beaten well.
5. Meringue should be planted using a pastry bag or a tablespoon and only on a baking sheet covered with parchment. For each new serving of pastries, it is recommended that you use clean paper.

How much to bake meringues?

Meringue preparation time depends on the size of the cakes and the features of the oven. Each experienced housewife has her own proven secret, which determines how much and at what temperature bake meringues. But you can give general recommendations for the preparation of dessert:

1. A baking sheet with meringues should be placed in an oven already preheated to 100 ° C.
2. The first 30 minutes, the door should not be opened so that the protein cakes do not fall.
3. If the meringues began to darken, acquiring a coffee shade, the temperature can be reduced to 80 ° C.
4. Bake meringues at low temperature for at least 2 hours. After that, the finished cakes can be left in the oven until completely cooled.
5. Ready-made cakes are light, with a strong crust on the outside, and can be easily removed from parchment paper.

Three options for making meringues

Meringue can serve as the upper part of another dessert or can be served independently as a refined cake. There are three ways to make meringues: French, Italian, and Swiss. There are significant differences between them.

The French way of making meringues is considered the easiest. It is ideal for beginner confectioners. With it you can cook tasty meringues of simple shapes, without subtle patterns. There is no point in planting the mass obtained as a result of beating using a pastry bag and nozzles. An ordinary tablespoon will suffice - with a high degree of probability, meringues will still crawl along the baking sheet, if not immediately, then in the oven. As for how much to bake a meringue cooked in the French way, it usually takes 1.5 hours.

The Italian method differs from the French one in that it is not sugar that is added to the proteins, but steeply cooked hot syrup. Beat the mass for a long time until the sugar syrup cools. The result is a stable protein cream with which you can decorate desserts, stuff eclairs, grease cake shortcakes. Italian meringues do not float even when mixed with butter. Just bake such a cream is extremely rare.

Swiss meringue is cooked in a water bath. The resulting mass is strong, the cakes keep their shape well, do not crawl on the baking sheet. Ready-made cakes are crispy and slightly crumbly.

A simple meringue recipe for an electric oven

Master this cooking method under the power of every housewife. To do this, just follow the step-by-step instructions on how to bake meringues in an electric oven:

1. Separate the whites of 3 eggs from the yolks and pour them into a deep glass, ceramic or plastic dish.
2. Prepare ¾ cup sugar. It should be set aside for a while, and not spilled immediately to the squirrels.
3. Starting at the minimum speed and gradually increasing it, beat the proteins with a mixer.
4. As soon as the mass turns white and gains some density, literally add sugar on a dessert spoon.
5. Beat the protein foam until crystals are completely dissolved.
6. When the mass ceases to fall from the spoon, it must be transferred to a pastry bag.
7. Put cakes on a baking sheet covered with parchment.
8. Bake meringues in a preheated oven at a temperature of 100 ° C for 1-2 hours, depending on the size of the products and the desired texture of the cakes inside.

Swiss meringue

Using this method, you can also bake a meringue cake, as in the previous embodiment. But unlike the French meringue, the Swiss is prepared in a water bath. The sequence of actions will be as follows:

1. In a fairly wide pan on the stove, bring the water to a boil.
2. Set another dish on top, after adding protein (2 pcs.) To it and pouring sugar (2 tbsp.). An important condition: the bottom of the second tank should be heated only from water vapor, and not come in contact with water.
3. Start the process of whipping proteins, working as a mixer at low speeds. Once the sugar has dissolved, the speed should be increased to maximum. After another 2 minutes, the cream will become dense, white, thick.
4. The finished mass can be laid out on a baking sheet in the form of cakes or immediately used to decorate desserts.

How to bake meringues in a gas oven?

The above meringue recipes are ideal for an electric oven. But in the gas room there are often difficulties when baking protein cakes. Meringue blackens, burns from above, but remains moist inside. Here's how experienced housewives recommend baking meringue at home in the oven:

1. Meringue recipe will suit anyone, either French or Swiss. Beat lush and strong foam from the ingredients indicated in it.
2. Prepare a baking sheet, place cakes on it using a pastry bag or a tablespoon.
3. Preheat the oven to the minimum temperature required by the gas oven (usually 150–160 ° C).
4. Place the meringue baking tray in the oven. After a couple of minutes, open the door almost wide and, without closing it, continue to prepare the meringue for 1.5 hours.
5. After the time has passed, turn off the oven, close the door and leave the pan with the products until they are completely cooled, that is, for at least 3 more hours.

How to store meringues?

To keep the meringue crispy, the cakes should be stored in a dry place. Otherwise, they will fill with moisture, which will adversely affect the taste of the dessert.

You can store meringues either in a glass jar with a lid, or in a tightly sealed plastic bag. It is important to cool them well before placing them in containers. The shelf life under such conditions should not exceed 7 days.