Grainy dulce de leche is tasty but unsatisfying.

January 6, 2012 6:02 AM

I am trying to make dulce de leche from scratch (not from sweetened condensed milk in a can) and it's turning out blonde and grainy. I have tried about five different recipes, and I'm dumbfounded. How to make dark, caramely, smooth dulce de leche? I would appreciate any tips or recipes or tricks you have.
posted by jennyjenny to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

Can you link to the most recent recipe you tried, or type it out, and then describe your method? It's hard to troubleshoot without knowing what you're supposed to be doing and what you've been doing.

Preliminary guesses would be that you're not letting the sugar crystals melt at a high enough heat initially, you're not cooking it long enough, or you're letting it simmer at too high or too low a temperature. Caramels are tricky, though, so don't be too hard on yourself.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 6:43 AM on January 6, 2012

Response by poster: I've tried variations on amounts of milk and sugar (4 cups/4 cups, 4 cups/3 cups, 4 cups/2 cups) with and without 1 tsp baking soda (this seems to help a bit) cooked on low heat for 3-4 hours. I am having trouble getting that gooey, caramel-colored stuff that I know as dulce de leche, I keep coming up with this crystalline, pale sugary paste.
posted by jennyjenny at 6:49 AM on January 6, 2012

Are you using goat's milk? Is there enough fat in your milk? Anything less than whole milk (and I think you need either full goat milk or mostly cream with a little whole milk) doesn't work. Are you using a properly conductive pot? Copper or cast iron, maybe aluminum, anything nonstick won't distribute the heat properly.

I've had success with this recipe, which stays pretty liquid until you pour it out and let it cool.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:54 AM on January 6, 2012

Oh, I meant to hit preview not post--your ratios are off. It's not 1 dairy to 1 sugar; it's like 4 to 1. That's way too much sugar.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:56 AM on January 6, 2012

Are you letting it simmer uncovered? Do you have a gas or electric stove? Are you bringing it almost to a boil first to melt the sugar and then turning it down?
posted by TryTheTilapia at 7:40 AM on January 6, 2012

Response by poster: I am using whole, organic cow milk, letting it simmer uncovered in a stainless steel pot. I have been keeping it at very low heat the whole time, not bringing it up high at the beginning. I'll try that.
posted by jennyjenny at 7:57 AM on January 6, 2012

Okay, great. I'd also suggest an aluminum pot, as crush mentioned. Stainless on its own doesn't conduct heat very well which may account for why your sugar's not melting entirely on low heat. (If you have a stainless pan with an aluminum core, like All-Clad, that's actually ideal.) Do watch your heat carefully when using aluminum, though; it conducts heat so well things burn more easily. You might also consider straining your final product through a fine mesh sieve to improve the texture, if it's still not smooth enough for you. Good luck.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 8:08 AM on January 6, 2012

I was really looking forward to tasting my aunt's neighbor-lady's homemade doce de leite when I was in Brazil, as she had been hyping it up to me. Even though the readily-available jarred product is smooth and creamy, the homemade version was delicious (maybe had more depth of flavor than the jarred stuff?) but somewhat grainy, and conversation indicated that this is just what homemade stuff tastes like. YMMV.
posted by aimedwander at 12:47 PM on January 6, 2012

I've read that the small amount of baking soda will both accelerate the browning and buffer the milk against curdling. Also, you might be able to stave off curdling by adding a little bit of warmed fresh milk several times during the cooking process. Now, this has worked for me in other situations but I wasn't cooking the milk for so long or reducing it's volume so much. Also, a small amount of cornstarch can keep curdling at bay but it might increase the chance of scorching. You might try adding some cream or half and half to up the milk fat content. Also, if your sugar is to blame, I'd follow previous advice and get it hotter initially.
posted by Foam Pants at 3:01 PM on January 6, 2012

hmmm ... my gramma made a version of this, leche pflan, & it was cooked in a bain maire in the oven rather than stovetop. always very silky result.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 3:52 PM on January 6, 2012

D'oh, never mind, leche pflan is more like a creme caramel. However, it does appear you could cook your dulce de leche in bain maire, oven or some combination thereof, if uneven heating seems to be spoiling the texture.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 4:01 PM on January 6, 2012

I used a combination of this recipe and this recipe (slightly less sugar than Alton calls for, basically), and cooked for three hours to get this result. I used a stainless steel pan and whole cow's milk, so I honestly don't think that's the issue. The baking soda will make it darker.

I also think it might be that it's not heating up enough to dissolve the sugar at the earlier stage of cooking. I wonder if over-stirring while cooking could cause this?
posted by litlnemo at 5:20 AM on January 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

My recipe takes about 3-4 hours and the milk and sugar get added gradually - start with milk and white sugar, then add more milk and brown sugar and finally add the rest of the milk. It's also stirred constantly for the entire time and includes bicarbonate soda (I think baking soda in the US?) and glucose syrup (light corn syrup). The glucose will prevent large sugar crystals forming, which may be what you're experiencing with the 'grainy' texture.
posted by eloeth-starr at 6:36 PM on January 7, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks, all! I took everyone's advice, 1:4 sugar to milk ratio, baking soda, high heat to low simmer and constant stirring resulted in perfect creamy deliciousness. Y'all are the best.
posted by jennyjenny at 7:20 PM on January 8, 2012