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There is a similar question to this, but without a recipe and no satisfactory answer...

I used 3 egg whites with pristine metal utensils. Absolutely no moisture, fats, etc.

Whisked slow, medium, fast, evenly spaced timing over 5 minutes.

Towards the end, around 4 minutes, started adding tablespoons of icing sugar and letting them whisk in.

Continued whisking for a further 2 minutes once all mixed.

Beautiful texture and gloss. Stiff and awesome.

Preheated oven to 100c, spread meringue out for a pavlova.

In the centre of the fan assisted oven on 100c for 2 hrs 10 mins. Turned off and sat until cold (over night and it was actually 5 hrs.)

The first 2 times I did this I got perfect results. Couldn’t wish for better. (First time I used granulated caster sugar, second was with icing sugar which gave a better texture.)

The next time I made 2 pavlova bases and put them in at the same time. Shelves were close together but still centred.

Exact same ingredients, conditions, etc.

This time they came out fluffy, like bread on the inside. Moist to the touch. Stuck to the baking paper. Most worryingly they were a discoloured orange on the outside.

I have now made another at the end of the day, but only one this time. It has turned out the same:

discoloured pavlova

soft

What makes a meringue stay moist? What makes it discolour? Is there anything I should look at considering that I did exactly the same thing each time?

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    I finally had success (after one baking with 2 failed meringues and one failed baking with 1 meringue) and the major difference was the time of day and that I flipped the baking paper over to use the rough side.
    – Matt W
    Commented Jul 16, 2018 at 10:37

2 Answers 2

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One thing that can affect meringues is humidity. I find that I have to bake them at nearly twice as long in the summer to get them to dry out completely.

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  • I suspect this might be an issue, but having looked through the glass to see the discolouration around the 1hr mark I don’t think it would help these. I’m wondering, now, if there might be a difference in baking papers.
    – Matt W
    Commented Jul 15, 2018 at 8:06
  • I suspect this is the answer I'm looking for, though see my comment on my OP.
    – Matt W
    Commented Jul 16, 2018 at 10:38
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I have finally found the answer to my question:

I was not whisking the egg whites long enough.

I am now whisking while mixing in small amounts (about 1tbsp at a time) of granulated sugar for at least 10 minutes, usually longer.

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  • Good to see someone come back with a self-answer. Try caster sugar for a finer, hence more easily soluble sugar. You should beat until the mix no longer feels granular (i.e. undissolved sugar crystals) between additions
    – bob1
    Commented Jun 24 at 2:44

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