Canelé

What to get ready

• Fresh milk 4 ¼ cups
• Flour 8.5 oz
• Sugar 15.5 oz
• Chicken eggs 8
• Unsalted butter 3.5 oz
• Rum ½ cup
• Vanilla 0.3 oz
• Food-grade beeswax 1.4 oz

Method

1. 1 Heat the milk with butter and vanilla to 60 degrees, then pour it into the mixture of flour, sugar, and eggs, stirring gently to avoid air bubbles.
2. 2 Sift the flour through a sieve and refrigerate for 48 hours—resting for two full days ensures the bread's interior forms a honeycomb structure instead of large, hollow spaces.
3. 3 Add the rum, stir gently, and let the batter reach room temperature before baking.
4. 4 Melt beeswax with a little butter, coat a copper mold, then turn it upside down to let the excess melt; beeswax gives the canelé crust its dark brown, crisp color, something silicone molds can't achieve.
5. 5 Fill the mold 90% with batter, bake at 240 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180 degrees for another 50 minutes, and remove the mold immediately after taking it out of the oven.

With an appliance

• Air fryer 1 hr

  Replace step 5: spray oil around the copper mold, use a steam oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower to 195 degrees for another 33 minutes, rotating the mold as the temperature changes. This is 22 minutes faster than a conventional oven, but only arrange one layer of molds so that the crust browns evenly and the inside isn't too hollow.