When you go to pastry chef school one of the things you will learn is how to make a dessert soufflé. Soufflés have a reputation for being difficult to make, but they are not really that hard to make. If made properly, they are actually fairly simple to make. There are just a few steps you need to follow to make a successful soufflé.
To make a proper dessert soufflé you need to beat your egg whites properly. Egg whites can be beaten by hand or with an electric mixer. If doing it by hand you need to use a thin wire whisk and prepare to beat the eggs for two minutes for every two eggs. Obviously, using an electric mixer might be a little easier. Properly beaten eggs can increase the final volume of the eggs by almost nine times. To check if your egg whites are properly beaten, scoop up some whites and if the foam is stiff enough to stand up in well defined peaks, they are ready.
To make that dessert soufflé you need to fold your beaten egg whites into some kind of a flavor base. Traditional recipes call for pastry cream, but many different items are used as a base including fruit juice and fruit purée. Usually these are baked in pastry molds, but the skins and rinds of fruit can also be used.
When a soufflé bakes the air trapped in the beaten egg whites expands as the oven temperature rises. As the air expands, it helps the soufflé rise. Besides the air in the egg white, steam from liquids used in the batter create steam to make the soufflé rise. We have all seen TV shows with where someone is making a soufflé and it falls in the oven. What actually happens is the soufflé falls as it cools after leaving the oven. So what you need to do is quickly take it to the table because it will fall as a cools. A fully baked soufflé will fall one or two minutes from leaving the oven.
While it is most impressive to bring a soufflé to the table before it falls, soufflés can be refrigerated and served the following day.
When it comes to flavors there is really no end to the variety of soufflés. Grand Marnier, lemon, apricot, chocolate, lemon, orange and white chocolate are just a sample of some of the ingredients you can use.
The best way to know if your soufflé is done, is to check to make sure the center is firm but not completely dry. At the end of the cooking time you need to check to see that the top is firm. If it is, use a metal or wooden skewer and insert the skewer into the soufflé. It should come out clean or almost clean.
Whether you want to make a souffle at home or you learn to make one as a pastry chef, you can choose between hundreds of recipes to get the soufflé you want.