Post by Foodgeek on Aug 11, 2016 0:59:52 GMT -5
Hey there,
Been a member and reader a while, but never posted before.
I make bean to bar chocolate, and mainly high in cocoa content, so usually above 50%.
I've been asked to do a special batch of chocolate with coconut milk and sweetened with palm sugar, so I went by my 40% milk chocolate recipe which goes, which I tweaked to 41%: 11% nibs, 34% sugar, 30% cocoa butter and 25% coconut milk powder.
I've run this several times with cane sugar and whole milk powder and it turned out as a wonderful delicious (albeit very sweet for my taste) milk chocolate, and it tempered just fine.
Back to my coconut milk bar. When I first took it out of the melanger after it finished running, it did seem very thin, and I poured it in a container so I could store it until I was ready to temper and mould it (and develop the taste a bit).
Well, the other day, I had time to work on it. As I am cutting it up to melt it, I notice the center of the block is very, very soft. Already then I am a bit worried about the tempering.
I melt the chocolate, go somewhere just under 50C, I use my regular technique, I fill the bottom of a big bowl with ice, water and a good amount of salt.
I lower the temperature to a bit above 27C and and raise the temperature to around 30C. Everything seems okay, I mould the bars and put them in my chocolate fridge (set to 15C). When I later check them they are not tempered at all, I get as much of the chocolate out as I can and clean the moulds.
Zoom to yesterday. I decide to try a different approach. Seeding with cocoa butter powder.
I melt the chocolate again, I lower the temperature to 33.5C and add 1% cocoa butter powder and stir until it is dissolved (or so I think). Once I hit 29.5C the chocolate is supposed to be tempered. I do a test on a piece of acetate. It seems fine, nice snap and shine. So I go ahead and mould it all again.
So this morning I go to unmould it, the first couple of bars look awesome. The next set has little while cocoa butter granules on the back of the bar (my my it!), the rest has a white bloom, the first couple of the back, the rest of the bars both front and back.
The actual temper was good. Shiny and snappy, so I guess this didn't fail. The questions here are:
* What is the bloom?
* Does it stem from the unmelted cocoa butter powder?
Not sure why this chocolate is so temperamental
Regards,
Sune aka Foodgeek
Been a member and reader a while, but never posted before.
I make bean to bar chocolate, and mainly high in cocoa content, so usually above 50%.
I've been asked to do a special batch of chocolate with coconut milk and sweetened with palm sugar, so I went by my 40% milk chocolate recipe which goes, which I tweaked to 41%: 11% nibs, 34% sugar, 30% cocoa butter and 25% coconut milk powder.
I've run this several times with cane sugar and whole milk powder and it turned out as a wonderful delicious (albeit very sweet for my taste) milk chocolate, and it tempered just fine.
Back to my coconut milk bar. When I first took it out of the melanger after it finished running, it did seem very thin, and I poured it in a container so I could store it until I was ready to temper and mould it (and develop the taste a bit).
Well, the other day, I had time to work on it. As I am cutting it up to melt it, I notice the center of the block is very, very soft. Already then I am a bit worried about the tempering.
I melt the chocolate, go somewhere just under 50C, I use my regular technique, I fill the bottom of a big bowl with ice, water and a good amount of salt.
I lower the temperature to a bit above 27C and and raise the temperature to around 30C. Everything seems okay, I mould the bars and put them in my chocolate fridge (set to 15C). When I later check them they are not tempered at all, I get as much of the chocolate out as I can and clean the moulds.
Zoom to yesterday. I decide to try a different approach. Seeding with cocoa butter powder.
I melt the chocolate again, I lower the temperature to 33.5C and add 1% cocoa butter powder and stir until it is dissolved (or so I think). Once I hit 29.5C the chocolate is supposed to be tempered. I do a test on a piece of acetate. It seems fine, nice snap and shine. So I go ahead and mould it all again.
So this morning I go to unmould it, the first couple of bars look awesome. The next set has little while cocoa butter granules on the back of the bar (my my it!), the rest has a white bloom, the first couple of the back, the rest of the bars both front and back.
The actual temper was good. Shiny and snappy, so I guess this didn't fail. The questions here are:
* What is the bloom?
* Does it stem from the unmelted cocoa butter powder?
Not sure why this chocolate is so temperamental
Regards,
Sune aka Foodgeek