My first attempt to make a dry caramel was aged ten, standing at the stove stirring a dry pot of salt for two hours, mystified as to why nothing was happening. I’m still embarrassed it took me so long to realise it was salt.
As I taught myself to bake, caramel was the one thing I was terrified to conquer. All the books I read barked warnings of crystallised sugar and burnt hands, disasters unknown and pans awaiting ruin. Eventually I summoned up all my courage and gave it a go, following instructions to make a wet caramel, reportedly a good place to start. It crystallised, but I cracked on and researched why this was happening. I went to a DIY store and bought a paintbrush and brushed down the sides of the pan to wash away sugar crystals as they formed, practising until I perfected the technique (for the perfect Wet Caramel). My apprenticeship over, I moved on to dry caramel. It was perfect the first time. I could bash the sugar around and stir to my heart's content. Caramel wasn’t a big bad fiddly beast, it was a dream. Dry caramel remains my favourite method to make a quick, dark caramel suitable for most recipes in this book.
Here’s the science: sugar, when independently heated above 160°C, undergoes an irreversible state change known as caramelisation. The water content of sucrose sugars (most common white sugars) allows the sugar to liquify easily, meaning that it’s easy to caramelise sugar without the addition of any extra liquid and the sugar is less likely to crystallise. In short, that means it’s OK TO STIR!