fred
Novice
Posts: 144
|
Post by fred on Sept 8, 2018 14:53:40 GMT -5
So I wanted to set the bar as low as possible with my new Melanger and followed the Alchemists video guide for milk chocolate and then for the "two bowl method" tempering technique. Everything went smoothly (so to speak) and I only ran the Melanger for about 14 hours. I spread the final product out on wax paper since I lack both molds and patience and it set very nicely into a simple milk chocolate bark. Tempering was very forgiving and the bark looks as good as I could hope for if not completely shiny (I over-worked it a little at the end).
I would say that the chocolate taste is a little delicate for milk chocolate perhaps because I picked "Belize Criollo/Trinitario Certified Organic 2017" nibs which are perhaps a waste for milk chocolate. But I really don't like milk chocolate with a strong nutty flavor so it may take me a while to find the right nib/bean.
I used the 1:1:1:1 recipe as per the Alchemist: 250g sugar / 250g whole milk powder / 250g cocoa butter / 250g roasted nibs
My first impression of the result is that I think there is too much cocoa butter (or perhaps total fat) in the chocolate. This leads me to a few questions:
1. How well does non-fat milk powder work in the same recipe? That is substitute 250g non-fat milk powder for whole milk powder. 2. The Alchemists rule-of-thumb is that the total fat should come to about 35%. Does butterfat count towards that? I think with the whole milk powder I am at about 42% total fat. If I keep everything the same and reduce the cocoa butter down to 150g the total fat is about 36%. 3. How do commercial companies compute % cacao? I've seen commercial milk chocolate listed at over 40% cacao, but isn't this one closer to 25%? I suppose I could cut the sugar and the cocoa butter to try and get there...
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Sept 10, 2018 11:09:35 GMT -5
1) Non-fat milk will work fine.
2) That rule of thumb only refers to cocoa butter from the nibs and added cb. It doesn't include milk fat. Note that it really is just a rule of thumb, and really is more important as a minimum. There are lots of chocolates out there with more (and sometimes much more). In this recipe, you've got about 37.5% cocoa butter (assuming the nibs are roughly 50% cocoa butter).
3) Cacao percentage is ((nibs+cocoa butter)/total weight)*100. So, for the 1:1:1:1 recipe, this works out to 50% cacao (2 parts cacao+cb, 2 parts other stuff).
Hope this helps!
|
|
fred
Novice
Posts: 144
|
Post by fred on Sept 10, 2018 14:55:35 GMT -5
Ben - thank you that makes a lot of sense. Any idea how 40% cacao milk chocolate is made? The 1:1:1:1 recipe is 25% cacao which is actually pretty low for a milk chocolate. I did feel that the resulting milk chocolate tasted to me like it had a lot of cocoa butter in it. I also ran the melanger for only about 14 hours - this was long enough for it to taste smooth but I don't know if running it longer helps in other ways.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Sept 10, 2018 15:58:30 GMT -5
You're welcome! As I mentioned in my answer #3 above, the 1:1:1:1 formulation is actually a 50% cacao chocolate. The percentage includes nibs and cocoa butter. So, a 40% cacao milk chocolate could be made just by adjusting the ratios of ingredients in different ways. Here are some examples (none of which I've actually tried...): - 30% nibs, 10% cb, 60% other (around 25% cb)
- 20% nibs, 20% cb, 60% other (around 30% cb)
- 15% nibs, 25% cb, 60% other (around 33% cb content)
- 10% nibs, 30% cb, 60% other (around 35% cb content
- 0% nibs, 40% cb, 60% other
Those first two will probably be pretty thick--the first one may be too thick to actually work with, but they all illustrate how you can figure out the ratios and develop your formulation.
|
|
fred
Novice
Posts: 144
|
Post by fred on Sept 10, 2018 21:42:42 GMT -5
Wow, I didn't realize cocoa butter contributed to the "percent cacao". Actually, the Lake Champlain chocolate boasts "38% cocoa" (not cacao) which makes me wonder if it really is a ton of cocoa butter. I noticed the bar is 40% fat overall, so if skim milk powder was used then it could be close to your second to last recipe, though I think 30% whole milk powder would contribute 8% fat (if whole milk powder is 27% fat).
I wish commercial companies were forced to report % cacao liqueur...
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Sept 11, 2018 8:34:05 GMT -5
The milk fat does contribute to the nutrition facts total fat number, but it doesn't really affect the viscosity like the cocoa butter does. When thinking of viscosity--which is what that 35% rule-of-thumb is for--you only want to consider the cocoa butter content.
|
|
fred
Novice
Posts: 144
|
Post by fred on Sept 11, 2018 14:40:03 GMT -5
Hi Ben , do you think the following would taste good? 50% nibs + 10% cb + 40% milk powder and sugar (maybe 20/20?) EDIT: I was thinking I could try using nonfat dry milk which would slightly raise the sugar level, but for the brands I have the nonfat dry milk is actually lower in calcium which I don't want to lower.
|
|
|
Post by Brad on Sept 12, 2018 3:28:39 GMT -5
Fred:
I have a question for you: Chocolate is a candy that is predominantly fat and sugar. There's no way to make a "healthy" chocolate, so why worry about the percentages of fat and sugar so much? Why not instead focus on creating something that simply tastes good to you?
That being said we use whole fat milk here at Choklat and it adds an amazing creamy note to the milk chocolate. It's pure decadence. In fact the predominant reason why commercial operations use low fat milk powder is to extend the shelf life of the bars.
Just food for thought here...
Brad
|
|
|
Post by lucaf on Sept 12, 2018 6:05:43 GMT -5
By choosing dark chocolate over the processed sweets you typically indulge in, you are consuming a treat that can help improve your blood flow, lower blood pressure and lessen your risk of heart disease. Cacao & Cardamom prides itself not only on its creative qualities, but its use of spices also attribute to health. Some examples include Cardamom which is linked to antitumor activity, cinnamon which is popular in Chinese medicine for its antioxidant properties, or ginger which has anti inflammatory properties.
|
|
|
Post by Brad on Sept 12, 2018 11:05:14 GMT -5
Lucaf, I have been doing this a long time and have many thousands of hours of research and consultation with industry professionals under my belt. Eating an ounce of dark chocolate every day will only reduce your blood pressure by 5 points. That being said, if your blood pressure is 230/120 you're going to have a stroke and die. If you eat some dark chocolate and it lowers your blood pressure to 225/115 you're still going to have a stroke and die. The only consolation is that you will die happier.
Don't fool yourself here. Almost ALL chocolate made is a combination of close to 65% fat and sugar, and there is not one single health food on the planet that is 65% fat and sugar. Chocolate is candy. Period.
Once people come to terms with this fact, then it becomes easier to eat a properly balanced, delicious diet and indulge in a decadent, well made piece of good tasting chocolate as a balance, instead of choking down some dry bitter brown crap under the illusion that it's "good for me".
Brad
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Sept 12, 2018 12:11:20 GMT -5
Fred: That may taste good. The only way to know for sure is to try it.
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Sept 12, 2018 12:13:43 GMT -5
I don't agree that all chocolate is candy, but that's all just in how you define the word candy. Personally, I'd define candy as a product whose main goal is the delivery of sugar. As that's not what my main goal in producing chocolate, I wouldn't call my chocolate candy. I also wouldn't call it a health food, either, though.
|
|
fred
Novice
Posts: 144
|
Post by fred on Sept 12, 2018 14:24:15 GMT -5
I should have clarified. My main health concern is that I am prone to calcium oxalate kidney stones and I should try to keep a low oxalate diet. The foods that are high in oxalate is a bit counter intuitive (raspberry, rhubarb, chocolate, black tea). One way to mitigate the impact of high oxalate foods is to combine them with high calcium foods the theory being that calcium oxalate will form int he gut instead of in the kidney.
I happen to really like milk chocolate, but I also like a good chocolate taste. I thought I could keep the cacao solids high and also get a substantial amount of milk calcium in there.
Now that I think about it, raising the amount of cacao solids may be a bad idea from an oxalate perspective... I may just look for a stronger cocoa bean to use than the one I picked (which I'm blanking on).
Frankly my first experiment is not bad at all. The taste of the chocolate is overall pretty good and better than most commercial milk chocolate I've had.
Improvement may mean getting better powdered milk (I want to try goat's milk), better cocoa butter, and maybe a different cocoa bean.
|
|