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Post by itsallaroundyou on Nov 4, 2009 21:12:05 GMT -5
glad to hear this is helping you too...i used to tutor my classmates in college so i could learn the material better by fielding their questions...tonight's batch was the best yet, though not perfect. i think i'm there, just need lots of practice at this point.
i kept to my same temps, and didn't preheat the molds and used a ladle. i got virtually no surface swirls or white swirls through the bars. the only thing i wasn't that happy with was the overall gloss.
is it wrong to assume that i should start making slight adjustments to my tempering temps to achieve a higher overall gloss? i might just stick my molds in the fridge next time too ;D
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Post by Brad on Nov 4, 2009 21:35:16 GMT -5
There are lots of schools of thought regarding the gloss of your chocolate once it comes out of molds. I'm far from an expert on that, as we only use molds for bars in our shop. Having said that, the best (shiniest) finish we've had yet was today when the molds were cold. What I can tell you however is that there are many differing qualities of molds, and not all will give you a nice shiny finish on your chocolate. The mold has to be super smooth, and usually only a professional injected polycarbonate mold will get you there. Vacuum formed molds, such as those sold by Tomric Systems aren't near the quality. I have a couple in my shop that I was evaluating prior to purchasing ours from Italy, and they look amateurish in comparison. I'll be interested to read the results of your "cold mold" adventure! Best Regards. Brad. www.SoChoklat.com
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Post by itsallaroundyou on Nov 8, 2009 19:01:07 GMT -5
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Post by itsallaroundyou on Nov 8, 2009 19:01:55 GMT -5
hmmmm.....no pics showed up..... ok, now i have some photo evidence (don't pay attention to the bubbles and drips, i was just going for quick, not pretty) here's the air side of some bars still in the mold. no hazy swirls, not terribly shiny, but not too ugly Attachments:
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Post by itsallaroundyou on Nov 8, 2009 19:03:51 GMT -5
all of the bars had this untempered haze in the middle...is this casued by hot spots? Attachments:
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Post by itsallaroundyou on Nov 8, 2009 19:04:13 GMT -5
from the right viewing angle, the backs were pretty shiny, as seen here: Attachments:
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Post by itsallaroundyou on Nov 8, 2009 19:07:23 GMT -5
here's a pic of the quality i'm going for, of course this only happened where the chocolate spilled over the mold Attachments:
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Post by Brad on Nov 8, 2009 22:11:25 GMT -5
Here is a shot of the bars we do in our shop. To be quite candid, the only time I've ever been able to get our bars as shiny as your "ideal" photo is when they come out of the cooler and are untempered. They are that shiny for the first few minutes, and then soften into goo. The photo I've attached is a typical example of our bars, and are about as shiny as any other bars I've ever opened from other manufacturers. One observation: Your molds are thick polycarbonate, and you are putting them on trays which don't allow air flow to the bottom of the molds. All of our bar molds go into a cooler on perforated trays, so that heat can escape and air can flow around them. The bloom you are getting in the middle of your bars may be a result of heat not being able to escape, and the chocolate staying warm too long. Our molds are thick polycarbonate too, and when they don't cool quick enough we get bloom in the middle of the bars as well. Hope this helps. ;D Brad. Attachments:
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Post by itsallaroundyou on Nov 9, 2009 13:37:09 GMT -5
well, i've been guilty of setting my sights too high before, i should just be happy with no bloom for the time being....and i think you're right about the air flow around the bottom. all of the bars i made in that trial were ladled in in big globs, and smoothed over on the top, so its definitely not an artifact of the mold shocking the chocolate where it first hit the mold.
the only thing left to do now is try some more ;D
-mike
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Post by Ben on Aug 17, 2010 13:41:10 GMT -5
Speckled is usually sugar bloom, you probably got some water in your batch somewhere... Andrea We're currently having issues with speckling. If some moisture did come into contact with the chocolate, can it still be remelted and re-tempered? Will the moisture evaporate or will it continue to cause speckling? Thanks, Ben
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Post by Sebastian on Aug 17, 2010 17:12:56 GMT -5
depends on the amount of moisture, and if it's still present. if it's completely evaporated, the specking you're likely seeing is simply redeposited sugar, and as such, you can melt the bars, retemper, and remould w/o any issue. if, however, there's still moisture present, you're going to first want to remove it completely before you remelt and subsequently entrap it in your chocolate, binding it for all eternity.
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Post by Ben on Aug 18, 2010 13:06:18 GMT -5
Thanks Sebastian.
We've been very careful to keep moisture away from the chocolate and have never actually seen any moisture, so it couldn't be very much, if any.
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Post by Ben on Aug 27, 2010 8:00:45 GMT -5
So, our problems continue We started a fresh batch a couple days ago and last night attempted to temper it. I've added our process below. The resulting chocolate was speckled consistently throughout the bar, yet had a nice firm snap. Is sugar bloom generally at the surface only or can it also be throughout? Tempering Process: Room Temperature: 73 degrees Room Humidity: 49% Step 1: Took the chocolate directly out of the melanger/conch and put it into a glass bowl. Chocolate was roughly 110 degrees. Step 2: Continually stirred by hand until the temperature dropped closer to 100 degrees Step 3: Spooned out about 1/4 of the mixture onto a marble slab and worked it until it thickened Step 4: Reintegrated cooled chocolate into the bowl, which dropped to temperature to 85 degrees or so Step 5: Maintained temperature at 85 degrees for a few minutes Step 6: After several minutes of constant stirring, brought temperature up to 90 degrees by pointing a hair dryer at the side of the bowl Step 7: Molded chocolate while maintaining temperature at approximately 90 degrees Step 8: Let the chocolate set at room temp. It looked as if it set fine, though within 30 minutes it had developed a light "dusting" on the back of the chocolate, and speckles within the chocolate. The chocolate still had a nice firm snap.
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Post by Sebastian on Aug 27, 2010 13:01:28 GMT -5
Sugar bloom will only be on the surface of the bar. Your ambient conditions are fine. You might benefit from more air flow (ie set a fan to blow air over the surface of the moulds) - but it's hard to say w/o more details on the thickness of the moulds, the materials they're made out of, the thickness of the chocolate in them, etc. might just want to try it and see what happens.
Are the specs inside the bar visable when you snap the bar open, or are they only detectable when you eat the bar? If visable when the bar is broken, can you take a close up high-res photo of it?
The discoloration that forms on the surface of the bar - gently rub your finger across it - don't press down, just drag it across. does the discoloration stay, or rub off? if it rubs off and remains on your finger tip as a white powder, it's sugar bloom. if it doesn't very easily rub off, it's likely fat bloom.
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Post by Ben on Sept 3, 2010 12:30:22 GMT -5
Thanks again, Sebastian. I forgot to take a picture of the bloom before I re-tempered that batch, but the bloom speckles were visible when the bar was broken.
But, I've now successfully tempered that batch and a couple since. My biz partner emailed Ecole Chocolat and they suggested a couple things:
Lower the room temp. The room was under 70 when re-tempering the batch I was asking about, but subsequent batches have been tempered with room temp of 71-72.
Instead of just stirring the chocolate until it drops to 100 degrees (step 2 above), they suggested tabling for overall temp reduction, instead of just for seed crystal creation.
Lastly, they suggested tabling half or more of the chocolate than the quarter or so we were doing.
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