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Post by krzysiastevens on Mar 18, 2006 6:27:51 GMT -5
I have been making chocolates at home for 4 years and I can make perfectly tempered chocolate most of the time using a variety of methods.
I have read the article the alchemist wrote about tempering, which I found very enlightening.
However, I am still confused as to why chocolate has to be at temper when it goes in the moulds. Surely if it is tempered then it can cool down to any temperature before being used to mould or enrobe and still produce glossy chocolate, however, experience tells me otherwise, why is this?
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Post by Sebastian on Mar 18, 2006 7:17:36 GMT -5
Tempering is a journey, not a destination, grasshopper. Realistically, tempering isn't a yes or no situation - there's degrees of temper and even after you've moulded and cooled your product, the process continues. I'm not sure I follow your question, but by the time you go to mould your chocolate, you better be fairly confident that the processes you've started have set you well on the road to where you need to be in the tempering process, lest you end up digging your product out of the moulds. Cocoa butter is polymorphic, which means it will crystallize (harden) in 6 (some say 7) different ways. Only one is the one that will produce shrinkage (not in the jerry seinfeld sense, but the kind that lets you get the chocolate out of the mould), gloss, snap, high melt so that it doesn't melt when you touch it, and prevent bloom. This is why you heat, cool, and slightly reheat the chocolate - the initial heat step ensure yo'uve melted out all the crystals, the cool step forms 3-4 different types of crystals, and the slightly reheat step melts out 2-3 of those 3-4 types you formed in the cool step, leaving only the kind that you want, and that is commonly referred to as 'in temper'. If you neglect this last heat step, you've not only got the crystal form you want, but you've also got a few others in there that will be problematic, and result in 'not tempered' product.
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Post by krzysiastevens on Mar 18, 2006 14:30:17 GMT -5
I understand what you have said but let me try to explain more clearly what I didn't understand: If I have tempered my chocolate correctly and ended up with chocolate that is around 32 degrees (I can't remember the exact temp offhand) I would then use that chocolate to mould or enrobe. My tempering machine keeps the chocolate at exactly this temperature for as long as I want it. Say I had not used my machine and I have tempered chocolate in a bowl that, when I began enrobing was at around 32 degrees, by the time I have finished enrobing it has decreased in temperature substantially. The chocolates I enrobed at the beginning are glossy but then, as the chocolate cools the finish on these later chocolates becomes less glossy and the chocolates that are being enrobed in the cooler chocolate end up with a bloom on them, why is that? I don't understand why the chocolate ends up not looking like properly tempered chocolate if I use it at a cooler temperature, even though it is tempered chocolate...I appreciate that this is not as clear as it is in my head...
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Post by Alan on Mar 18, 2006 15:00:20 GMT -5
I understand what you have said but let me try to explain more clearly what I didn't understand: If I have tempered my chocolate correctly and ended up with chocolate that is around 32 degrees (I can't remember the exact temp offhand) I would then use that chocolate to mould or enrobe. My tempering machine keeps the chocolate at exactly this temperature for as long as I want it. Say I had not used my machine and I have tempered chocolate in a bowl that, when I began enrobing was at around 32 degrees, by the time I have finished enrobing it has decreased in temperature substantially. The chocolates I enrobed at the beginning are glossy but then, as the chocolate cools the finish on these later chocolates becomes less glossy and the chocolates that are being enrobed in the cooler chocolate end up with a bloom on them, why is that? I don't understand why the chocolate ends up not looking like properly tempered chocolate if I use it at a cooler temperature, even though it is tempered chocolate...I appreciate that this is not as clear as it is in my head... Hi, I don't know if this is officially a correct answer, but here is my thought: I know that that when tempered but only partially hardened chocolate is rubbed against, scratched, etc., that this area can be a catalyst for bloom due to the crystalline structure having been weakened. My thought is that as you continue to make chocolates as the temperature drops you will be fine until a point at which the chocolate viscosity increases so much that you are actually interfering with the structure of the thickening chocolate and creating multiple micro-abrasions in semi-hardened/crystalized areas that are not even visible to you. This creates multiple catalysts for bloom. But the question is why does this happen, when the chocolate is already tempered. It is probably because even when chocolate is tempered, only a small number of crystals are the stable Beta V formation. There are still others there, that are normally kicked into shape by the more stable crystal forms. However, when you are basically stirring during the hardening process, the small number of Beta V crystals can't work effectively, therefore allowing the other crystals a field day. Now, the above is all just a "thought." I could absolutely be wrong, and I'm sure that Sebastian or John will correct me if that is the case. Alan
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Post by Sebastian on Mar 18, 2006 16:23:13 GMT -5
Because, it's a process that's continually changing, and you've got crystals that are constantly forming, melting, and reforming - the kicker is that once you start to get seed crystals of the wrong type, the rest of the fluid fat uses that as a template to make more of itself, which speeds the process. One way you could address this is to use a bigger bowl with more chocolate so that the mass retains it's heat longer. I'm assuming you've got a relatively small bowl (a coupla lbs, max?) and dip only a few pieces (< 100?) at a time? The chocolate's constantly changing as you work with it. You're cooling it relatively slowly, and adding things to it (you're dipping things in it, right? some of that rubs off, if you will). Another way to address it is that as it's cooling, you can pop it in the microwave and heat it slightly (careful!) to melt out some of the lower mp crystals you're forming via the slow cooling. Or add some heated chocolate to the batch. Either one works.
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Post by krzysiastevens on Mar 19, 2006 7:07:46 GMT -5
Thank you both, this makes sense. It's all about the crystals and the chemistry.
I get frustrated when I know what I have to do but I don't know why because then you don't know how much leeway you have.
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Post by krzysiastevens on Mar 19, 2006 7:07:48 GMT -5
Thank you both, this makes sense. It's all about the crystals and the chemistry.
I get frustrated when I know what I have to do but I don't know why because then you don't know how much leeway you have.
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