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Post by gameson on Jan 26, 2013 23:12:06 GMT -5
So I have done few batch of chocolate from bean to bar. I notice that on almost all of my batch, I store the chocolate straight to the bar mold. Then I put it on the fridge for 30 minutes.
When I take out the chocolate without tempering, I see that my chocolate has all the shines and no bloom whatsoever.
I understand that tempering is for cosmetic and with or without tempering, the chocolate would taste the same
In this case, after conching without tempering, my chocolate bar mold comes out fine. All nice and shine
Should I temper it again? Or leave it as it?
If this is not the correct way, then what did I do wrong?
Thanks.
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Jan 28, 2013 21:48:18 GMT -5
I'm not sure I understand. If your chocolate is all nice and shiny once it has set and has good snap and no bloom, then it sounds like it is tempered. It sounds unusual that it would come out of conching in a tempered state though.
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Post by gameson on Feb 22, 2013 1:11:20 GMT -5
that's why I am a bit confused myself. After I finish conching and refining the chocolate, it's time to temper them.
So lets say I have just finish conching, and I need to make them into bars. Since this is the first batch, there is no solid chocolate available to seed, so you need to make one first. I read that for the first solid chocolate for the purpose to seed, you need to temper this seed chocolate first.
When I tried to make the seed by cooling down the liquor, this is what confused me. Some of these seed chocolate are all nice and shiny, looks like it's tempered, and some are not (which is what I expected since I just cool them in the mold and not properly tempered). It snaps good as well.
My second question about tempering is the seed. I read that for the seed chocolate, you need to temper them as well. Why do you need to temper the seed when after that, you are going to use it to temper the chocolate liquor? Can you just take some of the liquor (25-30% of the batch), then let it cool in a chocolate bar mold and then use this cooled block seed chocolate to temper the rest of the liquor? What difference would it make in term of finish product for chocolate that used a tempered seed vs a non tempered seed (a cooled down liquor)? Isn't the purpose of seeding to bring the temperature down from 50 C (120 F) to 30 C (86F) or slightly lower temp for milk and white chocolate?
Thank you.
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Feb 22, 2013 17:04:25 GMT -5
There are quite a few ways to temper chocolate - they all involve time, temperature and movement variables.
Seeding is one method of tempering. It involves taking your melted, untempered chocolate at approx 45C and adding 25% of the weight in solid, tempered, seed chocolate. The solid seed chocolate does two things (1) it cools the untempered chocolate into the correct temperature range and (2) it introduces the correct crystals (type 5) into the chocolate mixture. That is why your seed chocolate must be tempered or else it can't perform the second task.
If you don't have any seed chocolate ready to go, then you need to try another tempering method to generate the seed chocolate. Most people do this by hand tempering or tabling the chocolate with metal spatulas on a marble or granite benchtop. Others use tempering machines.
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Post by gameson on Feb 22, 2013 19:22:55 GMT -5
Thank you for your response. You mention that others use tempering machines to make the seed chocolate. Some of the beginner's tempering machine (Chocovision Rev 1, 2, ACMC) are all continuous machine, means the chocolate still needs seed to properly temper. In that case, most people still do by hand first to create the seed chocolate?
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Feb 23, 2013 23:52:17 GMT -5
I don't think continuous means you need to use seed chocolate - I think it just means you don't need to stop the machine. Having said that, the machines you mention do need seed chocolate from my understanding in which case you would need to hand temper/table the chocolate first.
Tabling/hand tempering is not hard - it is how I temper all my chocolate. It takes some practice and effort, but once mastered is quick and very cheap. And the great thing about practicing your tempering is if at first it doesn't work, just re-melt the chocolate to 45C and have another go.
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Post by caitlync on Sept 29, 2014 18:51:27 GMT -5
So I have done few batch of chocolate from bean to bar. I notice that on almost all of my batch, I store the chocolate straight to the bar mold. Then I put it on the fridge for 30 minutes. When I take out the chocolate without tempering, I see that my chocolate has all the shines and no bloom whatsoever. I understand that tempering is for cosmetic and with or without tempering, the chocolate would taste the same In this case, after conching without tempering, my chocolate bar mold comes out fine. All nice and shine Should I temper it again? Or leave it as it? If this is not the correct way, then what did I do wrong? Thanks. This is an old thread, so you probably figured it out by now. However when I make chocolate and mold it and put it in the fridge, it is exactly the same as you stated. However that chocolate is not in temper (even though it looks pretty), as it isn't stable and melts very easily. I think it is because there was no start in forming any specific crystals that it looks good and any chocolate, tempered or not, that is pressed up against the plastic will be shiny.
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