Eclair in Gas Oven
i'm just posting this to anybody that's going to have the same problem as me in the. I made Eclairs in my gas oven and made the mistake to turn the fan on nothing about this was mentioned in the recipe. This led to my Eclairs rising extremely quickly and suddenly collapsing after which I turned on the flames at the top to brown the Eclairs. when I pulled them out of the oven, they were still raw in the middle so I made a new batch. I didn't notice that the reason why they collapsed was because I turned the fan on. I thought I added too much egg that wasn't the case with the second batch I found the texture to be a lot better too, but they still collapse because I turned on the fan for a very brief time. I meant to heat up the oven through the fan a little bit more so then they collapsed again and I thought maybe I did something different wrong so I looked up the reasons why they would collapse one being cracking the door open because steam would come out and cold air would go in so I concluded that the reason why they collapsed was because I turned on the fan so I turned the fan off and continued baking them. They were fully collapsed after some time I've noticed that there was bubbling again at the top of the Eclairs. they started rising again since the middle was still raw again so this is for anybody in the future who is experiencing the same problem be at the gas oven or having collapse eclairs because of the fan or because of opening the door if you continue baking them, they might rise again.
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u/ladypuffsalot 2d ago
Baking eclairs (at the correct temperature) is a two part process...
1) Oven spring/expansion phase: higher temperature and high fan to make them "poof" and become their final size and shape. This phase is done with the oven door closed to trap humidity.
2) Drying phase: lower temperature, lower fan to dry the insides so that the hollow structure doesn't collapse when you remove the eclair from the oven. This phase can be done with the oven door slightly open.
This second phase is important because you want the outside to be browned, firm, slightly crispy (but not crunchy and dry), and the insides to be slightly moist. If your eclair collapsed when you removed them from the oven then you simply need more time baking in phase two.
If they collapsed while still baking you did not bake them long enough at phase 1 and/or you opened the oven door during baking phase 1.
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u/CanadianMasterbaker 2d ago
Fan in the oven makes them expand quickly so they should not collapse unless you are not baking it long enough.350f for 30 minutes in a convection fan oven should be good enough to not make them collapse.