Baking – How long to preheat an OTG

I was lucky enough to get a macaron session from a Michelin-starred pastry chef before Christmas and he gave me some invaluable tips.

• Use an Italian meringue recipe. In other words, pour warm sugar syrup on to the egg whites instead of sugar from the cupboard. The eggs will already have been 'cooked' into structure and will not require any crusting. They will retain the same shape that you pipe them out at. You can bake them straight away, or in a couple of hours - they won't be any different.

• When piping, use a moderate pressure. Don't wring the bag out. Keep the nozzle approx 2cm over the tray and maintain that height while you pipe - let the weight of the batter spread the macaron out evenly. When there is enough mixture in place (about 4cm across?) stop squeezing and flick the nozzle away in a controlled circular motion to avoid creating a 'nipple'.

I wrote about this including his recipe on my blog here.

PS. I just remembered that adding further weight to the Italian meringue technique a very prominent French chef in the UK, Raymond Blanc, said that he always uses this method. On his TV programme this week he said it delivers far more consistent results.

A couple things:

• Unless the recipe (or experience) says otherwise, place items in the middle. Putting something higher in a conventional (non-convection) oven should make the top cook quicker than the bottom. This may account for the top drying out when the rest isn't done yet.
• As @ElendilTheTall says, check your oven temperature. Your oven is probably running much lower than it should be. On most ovens, you can adjust the dial so its right.
• Make sure you're using the same size (and material) pan as the recipe. Thicker cakes take longer to cook, and some pan materials are slower than others.

I looked up several recipes, and all gave times under 30 minutes.