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Post by tristan on Apr 23, 2008 8:49:45 GMT -5
New to making chocolate...need some help. Many of the recipes I see, ask you to powder your own sugar. Is this the only method? Can you use sugar in the raw (cane sugar)? Any help would be appreciated.
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Post by seneca on Apr 23, 2008 9:44:06 GMT -5
You can use any sugar you want, as long as its water content is sufficiently low. Experiment and see what you like--sugar's flavor (naturally enough, given that it might represent 30% or more of the total mass) has a huge impact on your final chocolate, and different sources and levels of refining will bring very different profiles to the table.
Do not use off-the-shelf powdered/confectioner's sugar, as it almost always contains corn starch or other amendments.
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Post by veronika on Aug 15, 2008 8:59:35 GMT -5
You can use any sugar you want, as long as its water content is sufficiently low. Experiment and see what you like--sugar's flavor (naturally enough, given that it might represent 30% or more of the total mass) has a huge impact on your final chocolate, and different sources and levels of refining will bring very different profiles to the table. Do not use off-the-shelf powdered/confectioner's sugar, as it almost always contains corn starch or other amendments. Forgive me, but I am still confused. Recipies for homemade powdered sugar call for cornstarch. Am I supposed to omit the cornstarch when I make powdered sugar for homemade chocolate? Thanks for your help!
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Post by Alan on Aug 15, 2008 9:16:21 GMT -5
Right. If you powder the sugar first, do not add corn starch.
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Post by Brad on Aug 16, 2008 2:05:26 GMT -5
Veronica;
There is no need to create extra work for yourself. Pre-refining the sugar before adding the rest of the ingredients offers you no appreciable benefits, other than possibly saving a small amount of time that the chocolate is in your refiner. The sugar is going to be crushed down during the refining process anyway.
Melt your cocoa butter, add the sugar to the cocoa butter and reheat until about 40 degrees Celcius, add your nibs to the melted mixture to warm them up, and slowly dump the whole shooting mess into your Santha, then let it run for a day or so. Making chocolate with your Santha, really IS that easy.
Brad.
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Post by veronika on Aug 17, 2008 2:16:11 GMT -5
Brad & Alan: Thank you so much for your help!
Cheers!
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Post by rabarber on Aug 25, 2008 3:11:47 GMT -5
I have no experience in chocolate production at home, but not refining the sugar before gives you the advantage that the sugar is refined in the chocolate. And that the amorphous sugar is surrounded immediately by the cocoa particles which will bound to the surface of the sugar. This should result in a better taste profile and less off flavors.
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Post by beanless on May 30, 2011 18:48:21 GMT -5
With regard to sugar and it's moisture content, I am trying to find an organic sugar but can only find it raw (at a reasonable price) which has a moisture content of 0.1% - this sounds ok to me but does anyone else think otherwise?
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Post by cheebs on May 30, 2011 19:35:43 GMT -5
Good enough... you may experience some thickening of the mass initially as it absorbs the moisture, but it should evaporate off during processing. If the sugar feels moist to the touch you can always dry it in a warm over overnight.
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Post by beanless on May 30, 2011 23:50:22 GMT -5
Thanks Cheebs If I try it I'll post whether it works or not.
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Post by beanless on Sept 9, 2011 14:06:27 GMT -5
Just an update on the raw sugar, it posed no problem due to it's moisture but I did find that it imparted too much molasses flavour for my liking.
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Post by bunnygirlxxx on Sept 14, 2011 15:02:45 GMT -5
I have been experimenting with sugar substitutes (without success!) & thought using sugar would be the easy option! Oh dear how wrong I was!!!
I have just melted 10g cacao butter with 10g cacao power a ting bit of powdered vanilla & 10g of supermarket cane sugar. Uuurrgghh!! It's just the worst ever!! The sugar won't even mix in properly, I have been stirring & warning for ages!!! Does this always happen with normal cane sugar??!
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Post by Brad on Sept 15, 2011 22:26:06 GMT -5
Bunnygirlxxx;
First of all, cool name. That combined with chocolate conjurs up all kinds of images in my head.
Sorry. I digress.
First of all, cocoa powder for the most part is the bottom of the barrell in the chocolate industry. It for the most part tastes like crap, and is actually a by-product of making cocoa butter.
Second, chocolate is a suspension of tiny particles of sugar and vanilla and cocoa solids in fat (cocoa butter). It's important to understand this because the sugar, cocoa powder granules and vanilla will never dissolve. EVER. Nor will they shrink. It will always be gritty and terrible regardless of how much you stir and heat. Your best bet is to use a mortar and pestle if you don't have a grinder of some kind, but you'll still end up with a gritty, bad tasting chocolate.
Sorry to not have any good news for you.
Brad.
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Post by bunnygirlxxx on Sept 17, 2011 14:12:11 GMT -5
Lol!
It's all starting to make sense now - I'm definitely going to have to research & save up for a proper grinder. I have been making my own choccy using Caoca powder for a while now & I have always been very aware that it is quite bitty, I always thought it was the sweetner I was using... Until now!
Thanks brad!
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