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Post by madlu on Sept 26, 2016 3:35:29 GMT -5
Hi folks,
First post. Novice maker, pro eater.
Here's my question. I bought a cheap chocolate melter that I want to use to hold my tempered chocolate so I can take small amounts of chocolate from it and experiment with different flavours, ingredients, etc.
I've tested the settings on the melter and the coolest setting is 37.C. Which is too warm to hold chocolate in temper, right?
Do you think I could put tempered chocolate into the preheated melter, then turn it off immediately - that the chocolate in direct contact with the bowl might come out of temper, but the rest of the chocolate shouldn't warm up too much? Or do you think I should just get rid of my €13 melter and just try to find a low temperature setting on my stove top and use a double boiler?
Just so you have a better idea, I want to experiment adding chai spices to 70% dark , 50% dark, milk and white chocolate. I have a few different recipes of spice mix, and then need to try different ratios of those recipes. Hence wanting something that can hold warm chocolate while I mix up different formulations, e.g. 4g spice mix A, 3g spice mix A, 2g spice mix A, 4g spice mix B, 3g spice mix B, 2g spice mix B, etc., etc.
Although I have no experience with any of this, my end goal is to come up with a formulation that tastes good, then hire a commercial kitchen one weekend to make a whole lot of bars that I can take/keep/wrap at home, and to sell them at local markets or online. Rinse and repeat.
Which is all a bit ambitious considering that last week was the first time I tried making chocolate bars at home.
How do you keep your chocolate at working temperature for long periods, at home?
Thanks!
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Post by madlu on Sept 26, 2016 4:30:05 GMT -5
Oh, I just had a thought. What if I put the tempered chocolate into the melter (not preheated), turned on the melter, left my thermometer in there, touching the bottom of the bowl, and set my thermometer to beep when it got to 33? Then turn the melter off and reset thermometer to beep when it gets to 31? Or even better, have two thermometers set to 33 and 31 (or whatever temperature profile/crystallisation curve is needed to keep chocolate in temper), and just keep turning the machine on an off whenever either one beeped? And stirring occasionally too?
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Post by madlu on Sept 26, 2016 5:22:44 GMT -5
Hmm, my thermometer can't beep to alert of temperature decrease. I.e. if temperature is 33.C I can't set it to alert me when the temp reaches 31. It will just keep beeping until the temp gets down. Which could also work, but would do my head in. Thanks for sticking with my train of consciousness...
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Post by Ben on Sept 26, 2016 7:59:04 GMT -5
Yep, 37C is too hot to hold tempered chocolate.
Your idea of pre-warming the melter and then turning it off could possibly work, but is going to be hard and fickle. It really just depends on how long it takes for the melter to cool down to the chocolate temperature. You won't know if this works until you try it. Then, once it does cool down, you'll need to monitor the temperature to make sure it doesn't cool too far down. Once it starts to cool down, you'd need to turn the melter back on, but not for so long that it takes the chocolate out of temper.
Finding this balance is going to be difficult. A chocolate melter or tempering machine with better control is going to make this much, much easier. Even a double boiler, where you can remove the bowl from the heat easily is probably a better idea.
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Post by Brad on Sept 27, 2016 0:55:52 GMT -5
Madlu;
The crystalization of your chocolate has nothing to do with taste. If you are still refining your recipes, don't worry about tempering it.
Nail your recipes down, and THEN figure out how to temper it and make your bars.
My 2 cents for what it's worth.
Brad
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Post by madlu on Sept 27, 2016 1:28:20 GMT -5
Madlu; The crystalization of your chocolate has nothing to do with taste. If you are still refining your recipes, don't worry about tempering it. Nail your recipes down, and THEN figure out how to temper it and make your bars. My 2 cents for what it's worth. Brad That is brilliant. Thank you. Can you believe I had no idea that the flavour wouldn't be affected? This will make things so much easier
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Post by madlu on Sept 27, 2016 1:36:56 GMT -5
Yep, 37C is too hot to hold tempered chocolate. Your idea of pre-warming the melter and then turning it off could possibly work, but is going to be hard and fickle. It really just depends on how long it takes for the melter to cool down to the chocolate temperature. You won't know if this works until you try it. Then, once it does cool down, you'll need to monitor the temperature to make sure it doesn't cool too far down. Once it starts to cool down, you'd need to turn the melter back on, but not for so long that it takes the chocolate out of temper. Finding this balance is going to be difficult. A chocolate melter or tempering machine with better control is going to make this much, much easier. Even a double boiler, where you can remove the bowl from the heat easily is probably a better idea. Sounds like I'd be better off forgetting my cheapo melter and getting a double boiler. I'll follow Brad's advice and I won't worry about tempering until I've got my recipes sorted, but I'll get a double boiler anyway because when the time comes, it sounds like it will be less fiddly than the melter. Thanks Ben!
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Post by Foodgeek on Sept 27, 2016 1:43:45 GMT -5
I find it easier to hand temper instead of meddling with manual machines (having an automatic machine would be great though). I often temper right of the grinder, if not, I just melt the chocolate in the microwave to the right temperature (based on the type of chocolate). Then I put the microwave bowl into another bowl with water and ice. If lower the temperature close to the target (it usually takes only a few minutes) while stirring. I usually take the bowl out at around 30C and let the temperature fall the rest of the way. Still stirring. Once the target is hit, I warm up the chocolate using my trusty chocolate hairdrier, it takes a minute or two for a 1.5 kg batch. Then I start moulding, and usually between moulds (while it's shaking) I'll check the temperature and adjust the temperature if needed; repeat until there is no more chocolate, or moulds
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Post by Brad on Sept 27, 2016 23:50:17 GMT -5
Madlu;
One other thing: You don't need to buy a double boiler. All you need is a medium to large pot and a stainless steel bowl.
When we're using small amounts of chocolate in my lab (for baking and so forth) we simply use 4 induction burners with stock pots that have about 2 inches of boiling water in the bottom. We then have a bunch of 8 litre mixing bowls that are our "go to" work bowls in the lab. We simply put chocolate in the bow, and set it on top of the stockpot of boiling water.
When it's melted, we simply pull it off the water, set it on a cloth to dry the bottom, and put another bowl of chocolate on the stock pot.
Super easy, and very efficient.
Brad
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Post by madlu on Sept 29, 2016 3:47:10 GMT -5
Looks like most of my chocolate tempered OK anyway. Just using seeding method and short bursts in the microwave to keep the chocolate workable. That's nice. Even better is that the feedback so far from friends and workmates is that they like the stronger spiced recipes. Cool!
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