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Post by beardo on Jan 19, 2022 6:07:01 GMT -5
So I've been mostly making 70% dark chocolate with simple Cocoa nibs (that ive roasted and winnowed) & organic raw cane sugar. Simple, tastes good, hate tempering (lol dont we all) and generally doesnt make my mind explode figuring out the science behind it.
I wanted to try out Milk Chocolate, maybe something on this new wave of Milk/Dark territory. Maybe a 40%. Looking at recipes on the forum, on the Alchemy website and a few random ones online (which mostly arent directly bean to bar per se) I've noticed a lot of people add additional Cocoa Butter. WHY IS THIS?
Can you not make a 40% bar with just Cocoa nibs, sugar and milk powder? I'm confused why we need the additional cocoa butter? (aside from if we're tempering via the silk method of course). Obviously the nibs have Cocoa butter present, although home makers wont know what the actual fat content is.
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Post by Sebastian on Jan 19, 2022 6:58:18 GMT -5
Your product needs a certain amount of fluidity to produce and manage it. If it doesn't flow - it won't process in equipment, be too thick for you to temper, won't be able to pour it into molds, etc. Since most nibs are 50-55% fat - and since fat provides most of the fluidity - dark chocolates have enough nibs (liquor) in them to provide sufficient fluidity. Milk chocolate, because it has far less nibs to contribute fat, requires additional fat to compensate and provide enough fluidity to manage.
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Post by beardo on Jan 19, 2022 7:43:34 GMT -5
OK great! Thanks for letting me know and explaining so concisely. I wasn't sure if it was a flavour thing but sounds like its more a technical point. Will bare it in mind.
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