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Post by thirdfish on Jan 31, 2007 23:28:10 GMT -5
Have any of you used deodorized cocoa butter in your chocolate making? I can't tell if it is a little softer than the natural butter so melts more readily after tempering....or if it has a lower temperature at which it tempers. Any ideas?
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Post by Brad on Feb 1, 2007 3:11:21 GMT -5
I exclusively use deodorized cocoa butter in my chocolate. I find that the taste/odor of natural cocoa butter defeats the whole purpose of being selective about the bean type, as it overpowers the flavours (in my opinion).
Anyway, I find that I have to go as low as 79 degrees with my dark chocolate, and 77 degrees (almost to the point of solidifying the chocolate) in order to achieve a good temper. The upper working temperatures are the same as all the books say.
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Post by sugaralchemy on Feb 17, 2007 1:51:10 GMT -5
When I'm tempering small test batches by hand, I always do 'turbo tempering' as I described in my earlier thread. I use viscosity as my gauge much more so than the temperature - basically as thick as is possible to have and remain workable. Viscosity is a good measure of the degree of crystallization. If one were to leave the chocolate sit at that given temperature for a period of time, it would actually solidify completely.
The result of a very firm chocolate is an extraordinary level of random crystals, of which the undesirable type melt off during the controlled rewarming process, leaving only the desirable types. Despite reaching same same peak temperature (i.e. 89° F) as would be used with other methods, the chocolate will setup very dramatically faster. I have done side by side tests and the rate of hardening with this method and re-warming to 89° F is incredible as compared to just adding a few seed crystals to a vat of 89° F chocolate that has been melted and cooled to 89° F. In one side-by-side test with another chocolate maker while making truffles, the difference was approximately 3-4 minutes versus 30-40 minutes to achieve an approximately equal shell quality. Of course this was a rather extreme example.
This huge number of seed crystals also provides an incredible degree of insurance that the chocolate will temper fully, every single time. The downside is decreased working time. However, very controlled re-warming will extend your working time substantially. You would be very surprised how many times turbo tempered chocolate can be re-warmed without losing a sufficient level of seed crystals.
I would not expect natural cocoa butter to be substantially different from deodorized cocoa butter in terms of tempering capabilities. I have worked with both and I don't notice any significant difference that is tied exclusively to the butter type. Furthermore, in most chocolates, added cocoa butter accounts for only a fraction of the total cacao fat present in the finished chocolate.
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