Question for all you Pastry folks out there. No smart comments from you Chefspike, please. I am using Silver grade gelatin leaves. What does it mean and how much do I need to use in general terms? The "Professional Chef" says to use 2oz of any form of gelatin to thicken 1 gal of liquid. My sous's significant other who is a pastry person says to use 1 oz of gelatin to thicken 1 cup. I am looking for how much gelatin to use when making things like bavarian creams or to help my loose mousse.

Thanks.

By George (George) on Monday, June 10, 2002 - 05:03 pm: Edit

From a posting in July 2000 by tj

1 oz.powdered gelatin=1 oz. gelatin sheets. use always the same amount.the diference is in the amount of liquid used in the recipe for softening the powder gelatin.since sheet gelatin always absorbs the same amount of liquid ,which is always 5 times it weight, you need to see in the original recipe how much water was needed to soften the powder gelatine and add this amount of water to the sheet gelatin after soaking and draining them.if you are not sure how much water is required for powdered gelatin ,always use as much as for sheet gelatin, that is 5 times its weight.


as prinsiple, always scale your ingredients.no tea spoons, no cups, no volume mesurments.
if you have a recipe with 1 oz. powder gelatin, use 1 oz. gelatin sheets and soak them completly in cold water so they are covered.then drain the water.you now have a gelatin mass that weighs 6 oz.
(1 oz.+ 5 oz.).look at the original recipe and see if it specify the amount of liquid to soften the powder gelatin.if it comes to more than 5 oz. then add the missing liquid to the softened gelatin sheets.

By Pastrycrew (Pastrycrew) on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 - 01:55 am: Edit

Chefgbs,

I don't have the specs on each label of gelatin sheet, but silver sheets you can use 3 sheets of gelatin per quart of cream in your mousse recipe and you have a decent mousse. You'd have to adjust it to your taste for your needs. Maybe just 1 or 2 sheets for a fine dining dessert, and 4 sheets for a buffet item.

There are several grades of sheet gelatin. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum. There may be more names out there but they all refer to the bloom of the gelatin. If your recipe calls for 1 sheet, then you use 1 sheet no matter what grade. The platinum sheets will be much thinner (the actual look of the gelatin) than the bronze, but they will "set" the same amount. If you are weighing sheet gelatin then you will need to adjust your recipe as 1 oz of silver label gelatin will be a LOT stiffer than 1 oz of bronze gelatin. The higher the bloom the more expensive the gelatin is, but then, you get more sheets per box. I usually substitute 18g of powdered gelatin = 1 sheet gold gelatin.

Hope this helps.

Recipe for a bavarian cream:

Vanilla Bavarian Cream Yield = 50 – 2 ½” rings
Ingredients Amount or Amount Metric
Milk 1 qt 2 oz or 964 g
Granulated Sugar 5 oz or 142 g
Vanilla Beans 3 each or 3 each

Egg Yolks 16 each or 16 each
Granulated Sugar 4 oz or 113 g
Acacia Honey 2 ½ oz or 81 g
* Gelatin Leaves, bloomed 8 leaves or 8 leaves
Whipped Cream 1 # 13 oz or 822 g

Scrape the vanilla beans into the milk, add the sugar. Bring to a single boil, remove from heat, cover and let infuse for 30 minutes.

Mix the yolks, honey and second sugar. Bring the milk to a boil and proceed as for English cream. Strain and stir in the gelatine. Let cool to 100F and fold in the cream. Freeze to set. Hold under refrigeration for service.
* This amount of "bronze" gelatin is higher than is needed as this recipe is made for a restaurant where a pantry cook handles the bavarian. If it were plated in the pastry shop for fine dining, I would reduce the gelatin to 6 sheets.

By Chefgbs (Chefgbs) on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 - 05:04 pm: Edit

Pastrycrew,

Thank you Very much. Do you, as a Pastry Chef, keep multiple grades on hand for different purposes, or do you adjust the amount of leaves for each application?

Thanks again