kwarner
Neophyte
Just when you think you've got it figured out, you get goo.
Posts: 24
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Post by kwarner on Aug 20, 2020 7:08:12 GMT -5
I've created John N's basic milk chocolate recipe to the tee, with success. Had some chocolate left over so I stored it for about a week, then melted it back down and added some spices, retempered. bars had a beautiful shine but, after letting them sit for about 14 hours, They are still beautiful, no bloom, but seem a little sensitive to body heat and have The overall consistency of something between a proper bar and a fudge. It's not at all unpleasant or gritty, but it's fudgy. Not stocky, not runny, but not what we're looking for!
I don't think the spices I used contained cornstarch. Given a melt temperature of about 130F, a low end of 78, and a tempering hold of around 87, any ideas? They seemed so successful and came right out of the molds. It was textbook temper success until they simply didn't harden up to quite a snappy state. Again, glossy, etc. Thank you for your help!
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Post by Ben on Aug 20, 2020 10:44:41 GMT -5
What spices did you add? Could they have added moisture or oils to the chocolate?
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kwarner
Neophyte
Just when you think you've got it figured out, you get goo.
Posts: 24
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Post by kwarner on Aug 21, 2020 11:19:54 GMT -5
Hi, Ben- great question. I added 3 tsp to a ~2lb batch, all dried in 'shaker' powder form: clove, star anise, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, ginger. Very fine powder (yes, almost texture of cornstarch) Btw, today I checked it again and it's gotten even more textural, like a cakey fudge. No bloom, it's lovely honestly but taking on a soft, almost desirable crumbiness that isn't what we're going for. Are you leaning to the temper, or toward ingredients? I'm feeling your powder check on this one.
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kwarner
Neophyte
Just when you think you've got it figured out, you get goo.
Posts: 24
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Post by kwarner on Aug 22, 2020 9:35:58 GMT -5
Well, this interesting. Check out this close-up photo of the bar after some refrigeration. Hopefully it is a parent in the photo, but in real life it seems a little obvious that it has almost a "rice cracklin" texture. Quite different from bloom we've seen. I suspect that the spices I added to the chocolate influenced the material and created this weirdness. What do you think? ibb.co/mhdBR2p
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Post by Ben on Aug 22, 2020 12:25:33 GMT -5
Interesting. Those spices, while probably noticeable in the texture, shouldn't have any effect on the tempering process. That being said, the photo does look like the temper is off. Weird that it hasn't bloomed, though. I'd try to remelting and re-tempering to see if that's the case.
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kwarner
Neophyte
Just when you think you've got it figured out, you get goo.
Posts: 24
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Post by kwarner on Aug 22, 2020 13:08:17 GMT -5
Sounds good, thank you Ben. I'll give that a shot this weekend and let you know.
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kwarner
Neophyte
Just when you think you've got it figured out, you get goo.
Posts: 24
|
Post by kwarner on Aug 26, 2020 8:58:44 GMT -5
Interesting. Those spices, while probably noticeable in the texture, shouldn't have any effect on the tempering process. That being said, the photo does look like the temper is off. Weird that it hasn't bloomed, though. I'd try to remelting and re-tempering to see if that's the case. Ah! It was 95% bad tempering on my part. I re-tempered and the product is fine, although I think in the future I would add the spices prior to conching rather than at the tempering stage. There is a very slight powder texture / chalkiness that I think could be conched out of it. Thank you so much for the suggestion, Ben!
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Post by Ben on Aug 26, 2020 17:17:38 GMT -5
You're welcome! I'm glad to hear it was nothing more than that.
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