Post by dubmaji on Jul 19, 2018 9:45:53 GMT -5
EDIT 2: I took Ben's advice from another thread about not reaching certain temperatures as a must. My experimentation was aimed at the reheat temperature, although the fat content was dealing with the crystallization process. My chocolate was still thin at 26 degrees, meaning there weren't enough crystals in there. I went two steps or so below that mark to finally felt some thickness. Then I reheated to 30 degrees and everything went fine.
Hi! Hope everyone is doing fine.
Recently I found a whole milk powdered supplier and asked for a sample. I made the test batch yesterday (30% cocoa nibs, 20% cocoa butter, 25% sugar, 25% milk, 1kg) and tastes delicious. However, it doesn't set in the same way my previous batches with the same recipe did. With the same percentages, my tempering tests always came in perfect conditions after two minutes in the fridge, but now it is barely starting to set after three minutes.
My usual cold temperature is about 26.7. So far I've tried four different rising temperatures. The first one was 31.6. I molded it tonight. Even though the pieces were set after an hour (about twenty-thirty minutes more than what I'm accustomed to), they were out of temper. They had signs of bloom, and although some of them were solid, others were very soft. This morning I did three more tests: 31, 30 and 29, with no noticeable changes between each.
The main difference is, obviously, the powdered milk. Usually, I use some Carnation which has 20.6% fat. The new sample has 27-30% fat.
Do you have any insights to share with me? I think the problem has to do with fat content, but I don't know how to calculate a proper fat balance. Also, in case that is actually the problem, could it be solved by melting extra cocoa butter (like 5 or 10% more)?
Thank you very much in advance!
EDIT1: I still don't know if my fat content is unbalanced, but I think there has been some progress by lowering my descend temperature below 25 in order to get more crystals. The last tempering test was a lot better! The chocolate was more firm this time. It doesn't snap, but I think that won't be possible with that much milk.