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Post by joyojoy on Mar 2, 2008 20:30:49 GMT -5
If you're like me (and I know I am), I hate having to use math... Maybe it's my artist brain, or maybe I'm just lazy, but when I want to make a larger batch than a recipe calls for, I hate cyphering all of the new quantities in proportion. Which made me think of a tool that is quite common in the graphics world: The Proportion Wheel.Suppose you want to make a batch of Howard's Jamaican chocolate: 21 oz Cocoa liquor 16 ounces Cocoa butter 16 oz whole milk powder 26.5 oz sugar 0.5 oz lecithin But suppose you were low on nibs and only managed to squeeze 17 ounces of cocoa liquor out of your beans. You take out your handy proportion wheel, and move the inside wheel so the 21 lines up with the 17 on the outside wheel: VOILA! You now know the correct quantities for all of your other ingredients: If you look at the 16 on the inner wheel, you can see that you now need 12.75 oz. each of cocoa butter and milk powder, and the 26.5 oz of sugar is now 20.25 oz. And your 80 oz. batch is now going to come out to 64 oz (because, if you look at the percentage in the window, it tells you that you've reduced the entire recipe by 80%). You can purchase proportion wheels (a.k.a. proportion scales) at most art supply stores, or on line from an art supplier such as www.dickblick.com (they offer one for $3.44)
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Post by jamescary on Mar 3, 2008 16:40:12 GMT -5
Cool beans! That is nifty!
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Post by sugaralchemy on Mar 10, 2008 3:00:31 GMT -5
I personally think everybody should be using straight percentages and weighing out in metric. It seems terribly arcane to be talking about ounces! And a straight percentage basis means you can better work out sugar, fat, cacao, etc. percentages.
The "small" Santha is well-suited for 1 to 2 kg of chocolate. 500 g batches are possible, but very small. 0.5, 1 and 2 kg batches are so easy to do from percentage that you can do all the math in your head if you can double or halve numbers mentally.
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Post by seneca on Mar 10, 2008 18:10:04 GMT -5
I have to agree. For the sake of nutritional and formulation clarity, massing everything out metrically is the only way to go.
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Post by jamescary on Mar 11, 2008 17:01:35 GMT -5
The wheel works with any units. Percentages are just values normalized to 100. I agree, tho, it would add consistency and uniformity if all recipes were normalized. I'd be interested in seeing a digital one. I tried searching for a web based form to do the proportions online, but with no luck in finding an easy to use one. I may have to create one.
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Post by joyojoy on Mar 15, 2008 7:26:51 GMT -5
James is right, the proportion wheel works with any units of measure: inches, ounces, millimeters, kilograms... whatever. It's all about numbers & ratios, no matter what you are measuring. I've found it a lot easier to pick up the wheel and give it a quick turn than to crunch out the numbers on a calculator or go to my computer and track down an online version (and it's a lot easier to clean chocolate off of the plastic proportion wheel than it is to clean it out of my keyboard... )
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Post by jamescary on Mar 15, 2008 11:14:28 GMT -5
I've found that my computer is usually hanging out in my kitchen a lot (helps with a lot of recipes without printing and storing those papers somewhere)... As for a little chocolate on the keyboard? Isn't that what tongues are for? j/k
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Post by benvt on Mar 17, 2008 12:18:41 GMT -5
Neat tool. I still find it easier just to divide 17 by 21 and multiply your other weights by that answer. It's also more accurate.
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