Sugar Cookery October 2011

Here is the basic procedure for making syrup

In a very clean sauce pot, add your granular sugar and water, bring to a boil, until it reaches the consistency you are looking for. 

To minimize crystallization, add a few drops of lemon juice. You will then be creating an Invert Sugar. This inversion makes it more difficult for acid to form.

DON'T STIR while the sugar is cooking in the pan. This would immediately for a crystallization. 

Also, keep a clean brush with cold water next to the boiling pot. If you see any crystals form on the sides, brush it down with the cold water, or else this crystal will attract other crystals and all of your sugar will crystallize in seconds. 

Here goes some basic proportions you can follow:

To make a light syrup, use 2 parts water to 1 part sugar.

To make a medium syrup, use 1.5 parts water to 1 part sugar.

To make a dark syrup, use 1 part water to 1 part sugar.

To measure your syrup texture:

Thread: 135 degrees F

Soft Ball: 140 degrees F

Medium Ball: 145 degrees F

Hard Ball: 160 degrees F

Caramel: 338 degrees F

If you don't have a thermometer, you can measure by dropping some of your sugar with a clean spoon into an iced water bucket, removing it and placing it on a plate.

For soft, medium and hard ball, biting it with your teeth will give you a more precise answer to what you are measuring.

Also, always keep a shocking station (an ice bath) on your working area. Once your syrup has come out of the oven you should shock it so it does not keep cooking.

Once shocked, you can start working with it. If it gets hard, you can bring it back to the oven and soften it.

Other considerations

• If you are working in a mutual kitchen, always let people know that you are working with sugar, since it is a very dangerous hot product. 
• Always keep butter close to you, it will help unstick a burning sugar from your skin.
• If possible, cook sugar away from other things, to minimize risks of getting burnt.
• To clean your sticky sugary pan, cover it with water and let it sit for a while. It will eventually unstick.
• Don't store Sugar products on moist places, such as refrigerators, near an air conditioning or in any moist atmosphere. It will melt right down.

Below is a Sugar Swirl. We made it on a Sil Pad and put it on this cone.

A sugar Wolf.

A sugar Spacial Form.

I removed the sugar from this Brioche Cup and it formed a nice Cave.

The sugar Syrup we were working with.

Cooking our sugar on a clean stainless steel pan.

Making Caramel. Once you reach a syrup, add your hot cream and mix. you will then have a caramel sauce.

If you want to make caramel candies. Add Butter to the warm syrup.

The hot cream that we added.