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Post by Brad on Oct 24, 2016 1:59:08 GMT -5
Over the past couple of years I have seen (and responded to) MANY question with respect to tempering chocolate. Most of the answers deal with the mechanics, but don't give the person an in depth understanding of why chocolate behaves the way it does. This evening I turned the camera on for the first time in my shop and let it run for 25 minutes while I demonstrated exactly how to temper chocolate by hand, and explained why it behaves the way it does. I posted the video on my company's Facebook page so everyone can watch. I truly hope it helps those of you who are struggling with the concept. I also hopes it prevents you from wasting money on equipment that isn't necessary to work with chocolate in your own kitchen. Here it is. Enjoy! www.facebook.com/SoChoklat/videos/1132903850118884/Brad Churchill CEO Choklat
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Post by mark on Oct 24, 2016 20:11:27 GMT -5
Awesome, thanks so much. I've been using your method for a while now and it mostly works fine for me.
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Post by Thomas on Oct 25, 2016 21:27:18 GMT -5
I also use this method and it works every time for me. However, once I temper the chocolate, I then pour it into a melter to maintain a working temperature. This gives me more time for molding and also works great if I want to mix in inclusions or oil flavorings. I tabled in the past, but tried the single bowl method after seeing a Brad tempering post a long time ago. I make chocolate at home and not for a living but I make lots of it.
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Post by mark on Oct 26, 2016 22:49:09 GMT -5
Yes, I also use a melter like Thomas. Even though Brad says you don't need all that fancy machinery, I think the melter is a great addition for two reason: - holds chocolate in temper at a steady temperature while molding as Thomas already said. My molding sessions generally go on for about 30 minutes and it's nice to know the temperature is stabled during that time. - removes the requirement of a stock pot with steam and the associated increased risk of getting water in the chocolate.
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Post by jeannet on Oct 28, 2016 17:59:18 GMT -5
Hi Brad, I have tried your ice bath tempering method but only took out about 1/4-1/3 from the melanger (which was cooled to about 95 or lower), then cooled that portion down to 80ish and then put the cooled chocolate back into the melanger to do the final mixing and melting of the chunks. This is a mixture of your method and John's (Chocolate Alchemist) method using the melanger. I figure the bowl method is similar to the tabling method which says to just take out about 1/4-1/3 of the warm chocolate to cool down. It works except that even if I keep the temperature of the chocolate about 90 degrees, in an air conditioned room, I can only get about 2/3 of the way through pouring if I'm lucky before it gets too thick! Why is it setting so fast and is there anything I can do about it? If I heat it up, then it will go out of temper. Also, when I put some on a knife and in the fridge to check it, it comes out dull but everyone else says it should look shiny. Your video said it will look dull (and should it snap off the knife?) so I am confused. I am thoroughly losing my temper in this process and need help before I give up forever! Thank you so much! The video was helpful!
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Post by Thomas on Oct 28, 2016 18:49:53 GMT -5
Hi Jennet,
Unless you keep the chocolate at a working temperature once tempered, it will cool and start to setup.. That's why I and others use a melter to keep tempered chocolate at a working temperature. Even if you only use a single bowl for tempering, it will start to get hard if you can't mold it fast enough. However, you can always put the bowl back on the pot of steaming water to heat it back up but very slowly and don't let it get too hot. I personally don't understand why people use the melanger to temper chocolate for the very problem that you are have encountered.
Chocolate will only look shiny if it has been molded and only the part that is against the mold. It needs to setup against a shiny surface. The bottoms of chocolate bars or truffles are not shiny. As long as your knife test chocolate is hard and has no streaks, it should be ok.
Don't give up, but try the single bowl method with all your chocolate.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
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Post by jeannet on Oct 28, 2016 19:21:03 GMT -5
Since I kept the chocolate at 90 in the melange I thought that would be warm enough to keep it from setting up. I don't know what a melted is. How warm do I need to keep it to prevent it from solidifying,yet it must stay under 92 degrees to stay tempered??
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Post by Thomas on Oct 28, 2016 22:16:13 GMT -5
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Post by Brad on Oct 29, 2016 1:49:51 GMT -5
Jeannet;
Your frustration is exactly why I did the video and will continue to do more videos like it.
There is another tool that my staff use religiously to help keep chocolate fluid: A hair dryer.
Yup. You read it right.
Some people use a heat gun, but the heat that heat guns put out in my opinion is TOO hot.
All you need is a stream of warm air and a little elbow grease to stir stir stir your chocolate back into a nice, fluid, workable state. It can literally be thick like clay, but if you hit it with a hair dryer for a few moments, while vigorously stirring, it will become workable again. Just don't heat it for too long, or you'll take it out of temper. Just hit it for long enough to make the chocolate around the outside of the bowl very fluid. THEN mix it into the thick stuff in the middle. It will take some practice, but you will soon know what the limits are.
REMEMBER: The entire time you are working with it, chocolate is trying to go solid. This heat, stir, heat, stir dance is something that you will always have to do when working with small batches.
Brad
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Post by bmikiten on Oct 29, 2016 23:53:49 GMT -5
I have been making bean to bar chocolate over the last year and while I used an ACMC which I purchased on ebay for the first 8-10 batches, I finally got frustrated with inconsistency and invested in a second hand but lightly used X3210 tempering machine and used the Silk process John suggested for the past two batches and haven't been more pleased. The point here is that if I had just invested in the equipment originally, I probably would have saved a bunch of money and time. I fully understand budgetary concerns especially for those of us who don't do this for a living but it has been so nice to remove myself from all the tempering concerns. Just some food for thought. Chocolate making isn't exactly a quick process!
Brian
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