# concave macarons with silpat



## macaronguy

I was curious if anyone else has had a issue with macarons having a concave bottom when using a silpat.  Ive tried playing with time and temp but still have the issue.  Its rather strange, they have perfect feet but no base at all. Some of the shells will have a base, but its usually 2 or 3 out of 30.  I use the french method and my ratios are 120g egg whites / 125g Almond meal / 200g confectioners sugar and 6 tbs granulated sugar added to the whites.  I dont double pan when using a silpat and bake them at 320 for 15 minutes.


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## fatherbeverage

so, if you used parchment paper they are not concave? From my experience making almond macaroons...i use a method pretty similar to yours, idk what the exact ratios were. But from what ive found the trick to success with these is how much how fold or how much you deflate your meringue when combining the powered sugar/almond meal. Ive noticed concave macaroons when the batter was deflated too much. i  deflate it just enough so that any peak from your tip when piping goes away. i bake mine at 350 for about 13ish minutes convection.


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## rosesen

http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.ca/2010/04/macarons-101-french-meringue.html


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## chefpeon

I never use a silpat for macarons. Parchment only!


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## fatherbeverage

I don't use parchment just because the wrinkles from the paper tend to warp the macaroons slightly. unless you spray down you sheet pan and carefuly get rid of any air i guess it would be ok?   but i havent had any problems with silpats so i use them and the macaroons turn out great.


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## chefpeon

Weird…the only way parchment wrinkles is when it's placed on a wet pan. Actually it's more likely that it will curl up annoyingly. If your parchment wrinkles it must be super cheap or something. I don't use silpats because my Macarons tend to spread more on them, but I will say they are easier to lift off!


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## bekazu

If you are set on using the silpat for Macarons you will probably need to play with the baking time/temperature a bit to get it perfect. as near as I can tell the silpat doesnt let the cookies release anywhere near the same amount of moisture that parchment does. 

I use Hermes recipe for almond macarons that starts with half of the eggs made into an italian meringue because I believe it is easier to pipe and spreads less than the other methods I've tried. 

I let my macarons sit at room temp for 20 minutes (we are in the desert <10% humidity most of the year) and then rotate the trays. I've found that opening the oven every 5 minutes and moving around the trays lets out steam and helps them dry out faster.  We have purchased two differnet types of mats to make macarons on but I keep going back to paper.  At the end of baking I slide the paper onto a cooling grid and within 5 mintues the cookie are about 3/4's released on their own.

The best batch of macarons I made on the silpat I made about 1 1/2" across and baked for 32 minutes at 250F


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## hooi ting ong

Hi There,

I'm just wondering if you are still having the same issue- Concave macaron shell when using silpat.

It has been working fine for me until recently i have been having this issues- I search everywhere and found no solution.

I've tried lower temperature, reduce mixing egg white, double pan etc.

Nothing helps-

The macaron shell literally lift off the silpat in the oven during the second half of the baking time. When taking the macaron out of the oven, the feet just broken- it looks like a lot of holes around the feet area and some detached from the shell. I've attached the photo





  








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Appreciate if anyone could help. Thanks in advance


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## flipflopgirl

@Hooi Ting Ong

Actually your macs look quite nice.... hope you are not discarding them just because YOU know they are not perfect lol.

We bakers are way too critical of ourselves.

If the feet broke from the mac that is a silpat issue IMO.

If it is simply hollow shells, that can be related to moisture .

Leave them to dry longer or switch to parchment and see if that helps.

mimi

# forgot to ask... are you rapping the sheet pan 3-4 time, sharply, right after piping?

Extra air bubbles can create the hollow shells as well.


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## hooi ting ong

Hi There, 

Just wondering if you have resolved this issue. 

I realise this is related to time and temperature-. the concave is likely due to overcook

Let me know what you think


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## awwburreee

Hi.  I own a macaron specialty bakery.  While working to perfect my standard recipe I have encountered almost every macaron issue you could think of and I have made shells that ended up concave.  

First off, troubleshooting guides can be a huge help but when working with macarons but always keep in mind ingredients  equipment, and environment play such an essential important role in baking a good macaron,  Since no one can totally duplicate these factors in relation to your question you may get lots and lots of suggestions that dont help at all.

I have used all three meringue styles to make macarons and French is by far the most difficult of the three to perfect.  If you have no intention of making them on a regular basis then it may just be easier to stop troubleshooting your issue and use the swiss or italian method since they are more stable and can produce more consistent good results. The bottoms of the macarons have a tendency to become concave for two reasons, a soft and unstable shell or from the drastic change in temp from the oven to your cooling rack.  This should be less of a problem if the shells are cooked long enough, a slightly underbaked macaron will not be as firm as it should be and thus more flexible.  Try adding a few minutes to your bake time or placing the tray of cookies on a lower rack in your oven if the element is on bottom portion of your oven.  If you are using two baking sheets to make a double pan then trying only using one sheet instead.  If these baking tricks do not help enough to fix the issue then your problem most likely is from the drastic temp change, they are either cooling to fast or to slow.  If you pull them out and remove the tray below the silpat immediately when transferring to the cooling rack then try putting the entire tray on the cooling rack and removing the silpat from the tray after 3 or 4 minutes to make the temperature change more gradual, especially if you keep your house really cold.  If you are not using a cooling rack and have been allowing the cookies to cool on the silpat and tray then try removing the silpat from the tray immediately after they are fully cooked and removed from the oven.  try to be gentle because they are easier to damage while they are still warm.  you may also consider cooling with a fan blowing on them on its lowest setting if you feel they may not be cooling fast enough.

There are other less obvious issues that could cause your problem but I would need more info on your setup, recipe, ingredients ect. to be able no narrow it down further.  I would be happy to answer any further questions or send you my ratio/recipe on the Swiss or Italian methods of macaron making   You are welcome to contact me through facebook by searching "The Neon Bakery" or "Aubrey Smithwick".  I hope this helps and best of luck.

Aubrey


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## msachitano

I am having the same trouble.  On parchment paper the shells don't stay round, but have better feet and are not concave.


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## chefpeon

I have found that silpats are poor heat conductors. With the exception of tuiles, I never bake on them. I mostly use them for sugar work. If you are having trouble baking macarons on a silpat......then don't use a silpat.


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## bakerkeegan

I've been making macarons and teaching macarons on silpat for over 5 years and the only time I have concave bottom is when they are under baked and or I don't fully bang the sheet pan on the counter to expel air pockets. I prefer silpat to anything else for macarons. In a pinch I've used parchment sheets.


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## msachitano

I have found that it is because I "over mixed" and made the batter too runny.


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## msachitano

Well, I was hoping for a solution or some real advice. Thanks anyway, I believe I found the answer.


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## msachitano

I was having the same trouble and tried again today.  I made sure I didn't over mix the batter and the macarons on the silpat were perfect!   The ones on parchment paper were not near as pretty, they had taller feet, but they are not uniform in shape.  I think it's cheap parchment paper!  I am so glad the silpat worked today, no more over mixing.


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## oblivion

I've problem with silpat and have not had any luck in making Macarons with the mats. I have been baking Macarons regularly for 6 years and they always work on very thin silicon baking sheets (appologies for not having the proper term for it). They always come out perfectly beautiful but with silpat they always crack in the oven. I've tried baking the same batch of the Macarons on both mats on the same try and it gave me the exact (disappointing) results. Would appreciate your advice.




  








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